206 "THESE ARE YOUR BROTHERS" 



the room, and takes his exercise as blithely as 

 though he had never known wings. 



Next neighbor to the goldfinch is a cardinal 

 grosbeak, a fellow of different temperament. 

 He is a cynic, morose and crusty. His world 

 is hollow and his cage is his castle, which he 

 declines to leave for an instant, although the 

 door stands open from morning till night. 

 Above all, he is captious on the subject of his 

 rights, and insists on having them respected. 

 To have a bird perch near his door is offensive 

 in the extreme, and alighting on his cage is a 

 crime which stirs him to fury. He despises 

 his restless neighbors, and feels no need of ex- 

 ercise himself. He sits not stands, like most 

 birds on his chosen perch hour after hour, 

 leaving it only to eat ; and I think that if his 

 food were within reach of this seat he would 

 not rise half a dozen times a day. His only rec- 

 reation is music, in which he indulges freely ; 

 and his song has a curious quality of defiance 

 in it, quite consistent with his character. His 

 notes indicate a more gentle sentiment only in 

 the morning, before his cage is uncovered and 

 his churlishness aroused by the sight of asso- 

 ciates whom he chooses to consider foes. At 

 that charmed hour he will favor his delighted 

 audience of one with a sweet and tender strain, 

 utterly unlike his performance at any other 



