A M ERICA N OR NITHOL OGY. 



83 



erly he would cause it to disappear. 

 He was very impatient and at last con- 

 cluded that I was too slow in preparing 

 his meals and thought that some help 

 on his part would expediate matters. 

 He would hop to my knee, then to my 

 fingers and assist me by pulling at the 

 piece that I held. He was very fastid- 

 ious even when hungry, a condition that 

 he always appeared to be in, and would 

 not under any circumstances eat a piece 

 of meat with any fat on it. Time after 

 time I tried to fool him by concealing the 

 fat part in my fingers, but to no avail, 

 for as soon as he had it in his beak, a 

 sudden flip of his head, and the obnox- 

 ious piece would be thrown across the 

 room. 



I soon concluded that it would be 

 much better for Pidgy to prepare his 

 own meals and it surely was more inter- 

 esting to me. Immediately upon re- 

 ceiving a generous portion of steak, Meditation. From Life, 

 he would seize it in his bill, hop to his favorite end of the stump, grasp 

 it in his claws, and "go for it." Pull, why at times it seemed as 

 though he would lift himself bodily, together with the stump, and at 

 times, when a particulary stubborn piece gave way, you would almost 

 imagine that the whole building trembled, such was the violence of 

 the reaction, 



Pidgy was also a good guardian of his property, and having become 

 the possessor of a choice morsel, nothing could persuade him to relin- 

 quish it, and he gave evidence that he would fight until death before 

 giving up his booty. An unusually savage looking mounted Red-tailed 

 Hawk, a bird about four times the size of Pidgy, was the cause of much 

 anxiety on the part of our pet. At the mere sight of this fancied rival, 

 he would raise his feathers till they stood on end, in the endeavor to 

 make his small body appear as large as possible. 



As the larger bird was brought nearer, Pidgy would squat down and 

 completely cover the piece of meat that was tightly clenched in one foot, 

 while his sharp snapping eyes were on the alert for every possible move 

 of his enemy. If perchance the larger hawk were brought too near, 

 quick as a flash of lightning, out would dart one of our brave pet's feet. 



