196 



Bird -Lore 



with loud '"cacks," and bill extended, he 

 was obliged to retreat. He learned to 

 spend most of his time on a box at the 

 west window and on a barrel at the south 

 window, partly, probably, because he 

 saw some pestiferous rodents come to 

 those places, and partly, since these 

 places afforded a good outlook for enemies. 

 He soon became lame, especially mornings, 

 and Dr. Marshall said it might be from 

 sitting on hard boards. Boxes full of 

 sawdust were placed on his resting-places, 

 and he immediately accepted these, after 

 which no lameness was seen. If a light was 

 brought near him, after dark, he was 

 always sure to leave his place and become 

 confused, groping about and taking hold 

 of things with his bill, as if to ascertain 

 where he was, and no amount of trying to 

 light him back to his place availed. But, 

 approached in the darkness, we found 

 him quiet when we were near enough 

 to hear him breathe. On a moonlight 

 night, our sudden appearance at the 

 window sent him quickly from his place 

 to the floor. 



Miss Alice Teele came to take his 

 picture one day at n o'clock, but he had 

 been in his bath and was a little wet, and 

 no choice food, of which he was in need 

 at the time, would induce him to leave 

 the west window, where he was arranging 

 his toilet to come into the sun at the 

 south window. After we had waited an 

 hour for him to arrange his feathers, the 

 doctor appeared with a determined air, 

 and caught him quickly by the sides, so 

 that he could not beat his wings, but 

 could only try to bite and call "cack." 

 One would suppose from the tones that 

 he could never survive this indignity. 

 But, being tossed upon the barrel where 

 he was wanted, he showed his usual 

 adaptability by standing right there and 

 coolly finishing his toilet, after which he 

 ate and had his picture taken. 



In food, this bird had decided prefer- 

 ences. We think he has never eaten vege- 

 table food when he could get animal food. 

 He preferred fasting considerably before 

 eating vegetable food. He rejected carrots 

 and beets, ate cabbage, and much pre- 



ferred potatoes and turnips nicely mashed 

 and buttered to whole ones. He ate bread, 

 clear butter, and grease, but did not seem 

 to prefer sweet cake to plain bread, as 

 many birds do. Cheese, which he had 

 evidently not seen before, was carefully 

 tasted, then eaten greedily. Cheese curds 

 he seemed acquainted with, and milk and 

 boiled eggs were relished. Dead mice 

 were quickly discovered as soon as shown 

 at a distance, and disposed of, and once he 

 was seen pointing at a live squirrel, which 

 got away before it was caught. The pro- 

 fessor's wife brought him a bag of half- 

 grown rats. It was after he had eaten a 

 meal. He grabbed one by the middle, as 

 if he were in the habit of thus shutting off 

 the air from the base of the lungs, turned it 

 about till he got the head, then swallowed 

 it whole, taking a second rat immedi- 

 ately after. Trying to swallow a third, 

 the tail of the second remained in his 

 mouth, and though he picked up the other 

 and dipped it in water, he could not make 

 room for it. But next morning he swal- 

 lowed the other three, making about 

 fourteen ounces. As he had weighed 

 himself by stepping on some scales placed 

 in his way, and weighed two and a half 

 pounds, his breakfast weighed about a 

 third as much as he; as though you who 

 weigh a hundred and fifty pounds were 

 to eat a fifty-pound breakfast. Farmers 

 admired his beauty more after hearing of 

 his taste for rats and mice, although some 

 ladies did not. To the normal mind, what 

 does good looks good. A rat and a 

 herring were laid side by side. Long- wings 

 picked up the rat first, then laid it down 

 and took the herring. The herring was 

 taken away, and he quickly swallowed the 

 rat, after which he picked the herring to 

 pieces and ate that. When less hungry, 

 he liked to take smaller mouthfuls. In 

 swallowing large rodents, he seemed 

 nearly choked, breathed hard, twisted 

 his neck, body, and tail, and the feathers 

 of the nape, as if to fill out every available 

 space in the place where his food is packed. 

 Long-wings swallowed a red squirrel 

 which had been shot three days. The hind 

 legs and tail were found disgorged, and 



