114 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



He stood upon the edge of the table for a moment, as if 

 meditating flight, when his eyes finally closed, and he fell 

 upon his back with his legs in the air, apparently dead. He 

 was wrapped in a flannel and laid away on the shelf. The 

 next morning his owner expected to find Jackie dead, but he 

 soon emerged from the blanket, took a prodigious draught 

 of water, and, apparently, was no worse for his potations. 

 N. B. — lie would never touch whisky again. 



19. TnE Friendly Eobin. — Some years ago, in Edin- 

 burgh, during a severe storm, a gentleman perceived a robin 

 pecking at the glass. Upon opening the window, the bird 

 hopped into the room and commenced picking up crumbs 

 from the floor. The window was kept closed until the 

 storm was over, by which time the robin had become so 

 tame and pleased with its new quarters that it refused to 

 leave. After a little time it would sit on the table where 

 the gentleman was writing, and, when the day was very cold, 

 it would perch on the fender before the fire. When a stran- 

 ger came in, it flew to the top of the door, where it perched 

 during the night. It remained a favored inmate of the 

 household until spring, when it took its departure for the 

 summer. In the autumn it came back to its old quarters, 

 and it passed three winters in its comfortable home. The 

 next spring it disappeared, and never came back, much to 

 the regret of the family. 



20. The Bobolink.— 



" June's bridesman, poet of the year, 

 Gladness on wings, the bobolink is here ; 

 Half-hid in tip-top apple-blooms he swings, 

 Or climbs against the breeze with quivering wings, 

 Or, giving way to it in a mock despair, 

 Euns down, a brook of laughter, through the air." 



