Vol. XIV 
1897 OweEN, A Captive Hermit Thrush. 5 
was not long before I had an opportunity of verifying this pre- 
sumption. July rr, I was shown, inablueberry patch, a nest which 
I took to be that of a Hermit Thrush. Judging that the location of 
this nest might imply a fondness for blueberries on the part of the 
Thrush, I introduced a few berries, July 13, into my bird’s cage. 
The avidity with which they were seized and swallowed showed 
that my conjecture had been well founded. ‘The coloring matter 
of the berries dyed the bird’s excretions, and it occurred to me 
that this fact furnished a ready method of finding the length of 
time required by the Thrush to digest blueberries. The test was 
made July 25. At 12.56 P.M. of that day, the bird voided white 
excrement and was fed, at once, with blueberries. At 2.28 P.M., 
one hour and thirty-two minutes later, it dropped blue excrement 
mingled with berry seeds. If this experiment is trustworthy, and 
I see no reason to doubt the accuracy of its method, the time 
required for a blueberry to traverse the digestive tract was, practi- 
cally, one hour and a half. 
I have said that, at first, my little captive was unable to feed 
itself. Generally speaking, thisis true ; but the bird soon acquired 
a habit of picking up occasional morsels and at the time of its 
release, July 31, it could get along very well without assistance, 
although, even then, it preferred to be fed. 
The bird began to peck at imaginary objects, in a desultory way, 
June 29. In the morning of July 1, while the Thrush was ona 
window sill, a favorite perch when liberty had been granted it, I 
put beside it a piece of earth-worm. It eyed the worm fora 
moment and then attacked it in dead earnest. In its enthusiasm, 
the bird lost its balance and fell off the sill; but later, when it had 
regained its equilibrium, mental and physical, it managed to get 
away with several worms unassisted. July 3, the Thrush spent 
some time on the floor of my study, running about, sometimes 
making short flights, and displaying, withal, a great deal of curiosity. 
My shoes, particularly the lace fastenings, the carpet tacks, and a 
pair of ring staples on a box, were all critically examined and 
pecked at; but the favorite subject of investigation was a small 
piece of waste paper that lay on the floor. The paper was red on 
one side and white on the other and was picked up and tossed 
about very frequently. July 8, the bird discovered a fondness for 
