76 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 
for something to eat. By chance he noticed that 
his thrush in its cage was watching the wild bird 
intently. Presently the bird on the lawn spied a 
worm which had incautiously put its head out of 
its hole, and dashed at and seized it, then began 
tugging away until it pulled it out, after which it 
proceeded to kill and devour it with a good appetite. 
The caged bird had watched all this with increasing 
excitement, which culminated when the worm was 
lulled and swallowed. 
“Now I wonder if he wants a worm too?” 
said Mr. Redburn to himself, and getting up he 
took a spade and dug up two big worms, which he 
placed in the cage as an experiment; and no sooner 
did the thrush see than he flew at and killed and 
devoured them as if mad with hunger. Every day 
after that he dug up a few worms for his thrush, 
and the sight of him with a spade in his hand 
would always start the bird hopping wildly about 
his cage. 
As a result of this addition to his diet the thrush 
in due time took on a brighter, glossier coat. 
Mr. Redburn had congratulated himself on 
having made a happy discovery—happy for his 
thrush. It had taken him a year of twelve months, 
but he had never made the more important dis- 
covery, which it appeared to me he had come so 
near making, that the one and only way to give 
perfect happiness to your captive thrush is to open 
the cage and Jet him fly to find worms for himself, 
and to get a mate, and with her assistance build a 
