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 

 killed 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 let him fly to find worms for himself, 

 and to get a mate, and with her assistance build a 



