Peter, my Painted Bunting.



247



recorded that he lost one fear after another, and grew more tame.

At first I killed the flies for him and dropped them into his cage ;

but he soon learned to take the buzzing fly from my fingers, and to

come for it eagerly before my fingers reached the bars. He busily

examined and tested in his bill whatever I gave him, whether edible

or not. The following quotations from my note-books show

typically his common-sense ways of meeting conditions.


September 15th, 1892. I am sorry to say that I forgot to

feed Peter yesterday. This morning when I went near him he

looked so anxiously at my hands, I thought he wanted a fly, so I

gave him one. As I took his water to him he watched and waited

and drank as soon as it was given to him. He acted similarly as I

brought his seed.”


“ October 25th, 1893. I must have forgotten to give Peter

water yesterday. [Believe me ! This happened very rarely.] This

morning, when I was taking his water cup out, he came down and

stuck his head as far as he could into the lip of it, not being at all

afraid of my hands. When I took him his water, he began to

drink before the cup was right in.”


In both the above cases Peter evidently did his best to tell

me what he wanted.


“ January 15th, 1893. Peter seems to have more intelli¬

gence than the Canary, in several ways. Peter seldom refuses a

bath when the bird-bath full of tepid water is given to him (once a

week just now), and he sometimes tries to bathe in his drinking

cup : the Canary never bathes, but pretends to in his cup. The

Canary is not afraid of anybody going near him, or even making a

noise or moving quickly ; but if they put his food in his cage he tries

to fight, and is shy of taking food from the hand. Peter is just the

opposite of this : If a person of the house goes near him gently he is

tame and friendly, but if they approach boisterously he is

frightened; and when gone to roost he is shy. But if anyone

offers him a fly he is not only tame but exceedingly anxious to get to

the hand that bears it ; and now when flies are scarce, or wanting,

he often comes to the side of his cage and looks at my hands (he

knows a hand) to see if I have a fly for him. Flies are his great

dainties : when I fix a piece of fruit between the bars of his cage,



