360 Rob: A Bird Biography. [June, 
for large consideration on the part of the occupant. At such 
times he would look as quizzical as a knowing young barrister: 
“ Want to get me out, hey? Ah, but possession is nine-tenths of 
the law!” Still, even wise folks may be inquisitive, and Rob was 
not above that weakness. He would stand on the door-sill of the 
cage and with those pretty hazel eyes take in the outlook. This 
done, with a gravity fitting the act he would step in again, and 
resume his uppermost seat—the top perch. Sometimes Rob would 
come out for a little while. 
As a rule, excess of freedom is pretty sure to cause our pets to 
come to grief. The real giant grim of the birdies is Grimalkin ; 
and he is everywhere. We had got lengthening Rob’s parole 
with bad effect on his circumspection. In fact there was a slack- 
ing up of the usual bird prudence. One day found him missing. 
So Rob had run his parole! No, he had not. The pear tree was 
white with bloom, and he thought to enjoy himself in its 
branches. Alas, Grimalkin was hidden there, and the catastrophe 
was serious. We found the poor bird half dead, with a gory 
laceration of the breast. How he got himself out of the mouth 
of the carnivore seemed a mystery. But Rob had gone through 
life so far on his cheek, and my belief is that his escape was due 
to his plucky impudence. In his case the proverb had been 
emphatically true: “ Familiarity breeds contempt.” I had often 
taken him pettingly into my hands, when, not from terror but 
sheer temper, he would bite and scream like a vixen. He seemed 
to fear nothing. As for the cat and the dog they were nobodies 
whom he saw every day. Now, I have seen the wild robin when 
caught by the cat, and the victim was as resistless as a clod, in 
sooth, it was paralyzed with terror. With Rob the case, I think, 
stood thus: The cat had a hold on his breast with her mouth, 
but owing to the smallness of the branch which supported her, 
she had to use all her feet to keep her position although needing 
the fore ones to help retain her prey, for Rob, though badly 
frightened, kept his senses, and doubtless used his wings and bill 
to good purpose on the face and eyes of his grim captor, thus 
accomplishing his release. It was a long while before the bird 
got over that wound, which left an ugly though not dishonorable 
scar. 
The bird had its own amusements. Is there not an instinct in 
whose manifestations our little girls are strangely like the birds? 
