3o8 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



However, he was not yet satisfied, for he saw still higher perches, and 

 so he bent his legs and went through the motions of springing, but 

 the distance was so great that he feared to make the adventure. See- 

 ing he was dissatisfied, I lifted him to the highest perch in the cage, 

 about four feet from the floor, where he sat and preened his feathers in 

 perfect contentment. Young perching birds will usually seek the high- 

 est perch in the cage. 



It was wonderful how rapidly my tawny pet grew. His progress 

 could be noted almost from day to day. In a very few days more he 

 was able to fly all about his large cage, and flit up and down the stair- 

 case of rods at will. In acquiring the fine art of eating after the man- 

 ner of the adult bird, he seemed to make the slowest advancement. I 

 suppose it was fully five or six weeks before he wholly ceased to take 

 his food by opening his mouth for it and receiving it from the hand. 

 Still, by degrees he learned to pick up his food, and the more he pick- 

 ed up of his own accord, the less feeding by hand was required, until 

 by and by he refused entirely to take his meals in the juvenile way. 



His chief difficulty seemed to be to work the tidbits back into his 

 throat, so as to be able to swallow them. Again and again he would 

 pick up a morsel, and try to swallow it, but would inadvertently flip it 

 away to another part of the cage, or perhaps out upon the porch floor- 

 It always requires a labored effort for young cage birds to learn to eat 

 by picking, but the art is always mastered sooner or later. Brownie 

 first learned to swallow flies, which I caught for him and of which he 

 was very fond. 



Every bird student is aware that the thrashers in the wild state are 

 often seen digging on the ground in the woods, usually beneath the 

 bushes, scattering the leaves and soil with their beaks. My pet soon 

 exhibited this thrasher proclivity by digging in the earth and sand on 

 the floor of his cage. How he loved to scatter it all about, and also to 

 pull up the paper on which it was spread and tear it to shreds! When 

 ever he could get hold of a corner or an edge of the paper, he would 

 pull it up to see what might be concealed underneath. 



I have said that the flrst thing he learned to eat according to the 

 adult fashion was a fly. That is true as far as real food is concerned; 

 but in reality the first objects he picked up and swallowed of his own 

 accord were tiny clods and pebbles. All my young birds seemed to be 

 aware that something hard and gritty was necessary for digestion, for 

 long before they made any attempt to pick up their soft food, they 

 would greedily pick up bits of earth and gravel and swallow them with 

 apparent relish. It was surprising to note the size of some of the 

 pieces they swallowed. Sometimes, after refusing other kinds of food, 



