206 IN BIRD LAND. 



is sometimes kept up for several minutes. It is very 

 comical, the only drawback being that the birds 

 themselves do not laugh. Why they should engage 

 in so ridiculous a performance with so serious an air, 

 is a problem that still belongs to the unknown. 



A cut-throat finch, a pet, was, as a rule, a very 

 sedate little body, but one day he had to come 

 down from his pedestal to get rid of his surplus of 

 feeling. This he did by dancing a sort of jig to his 

 own music, swaying his body to and fro in a most 

 laughable way. On another day an English sparrow 

 flew upon his cage, which was hanging on the veranda, 

 when " Pompey '' turned his head toward his visitor, 

 burst into song, and bobbed his head from side to 

 side. No doubt the sparrow felt that he was receiv- 

 ing an ovation. 



A most laughable incident occurred one day in 

 my large cage of birds. " Flip," a fine young wood- 

 thrush, was rehearsing his song. A young thrasher 

 leaped up beside him on the perch. The two birds 

 turned their heads to each other, and looked into each 

 other's eyes a moment ; then Flip opened his mouth 

 at his visitor, and broke into song, the tones coming 

 right out of his gold-lined throat. All the while he 

 jerked his head from side to side or up and down in 

 perfect time with his music, his eye gleaming intelli- 

 gently, as if he enjoyed the fun. Even my loud out- 

 burst of laughter did not put a stop to the little farce. 

 Flip was a bright bird. He afterward had a cage 

 all to himself, and regaled his hosts with many a 

 cheerful song, such as only the wood-thrush is master 



