102 General Notes. [ Januaty, | 
Tue Hasirs oF A cAGED Rosin.—I have a pet robin nearly P 
eleven years old which fell from his nest before he was fledged, — 
and so happy is he in his confinement, that he has never been f 
known to beat against the wires of his cage. At first he was fed ) 
upon earthworms, spiders and such larve as we could obtain, but : | 
one day, such fare being scarce, we tried beefsteak, and found he 
relished it well, then bread, crackers, bread and milk, cake, &€, f 
till for the last ten years his “living” has been anything usually f 
found on the family table. Indeed, he has come to scorn common 
robins’ food, save meal and cut-worms, spiders and flies. During © 
his first winter, when the cook would be frying doughnuts, as soon ~ 
as the heating lard began to smell, we noticed a peculiar teasmg 
note, uttered only when wishing some new food. This led us to | 
offer him a bit of hot doughnut, which he relished greatly, and 
the hotter the better, he eating it whilst quite too warm to hold it 
one’s hand. As a farther test of his power of scent, we found i 
that as soon as a paper of raisins, citron, or such fruits was 
brought into the dining-room, he began to tease, detecting the 
fruits as a cat detects the arrival of steak, while it is still wrapped — 
in the paper. For any kind of cooked meat, save mutton, whether | 
‘fresh or corned, he has a manifest relish. e 
In the hot summer days, when his food becomes too dry to suit 
him, it is his habit to carry it to the opposite end of the cage and 
dip it repeatedly in his bathing dish. As a result of this soft diet, 
and little or no gravel, his bill has a projection upon it fully threè 
sixteenths of an inch long, giving him quite a rapacious Jook, ano 
his toe-nails have repeatedly become so long that he has hung 
himself on his perch, thus necessitating frequent clippings; now 
the nails of his hind toes, if straightened, would be more than att 
3 
n 
_ In the summer he bathes five or six times daily, indeed it a 
times seems as though we could keep him in the water most 0 
and musical, becoming louder and louder as the season advances 
_ Never having been with other robins, and frequently hearing 
the piano, his notes were a jargon of almost everything, till thé | 
usual inquiry of passers-by was: “ What kind of a bird is that, 
parrot, mocking-bird, or what >” And they were greatly surp” 
