246 THE HERMIT THRUSH. 
continually making inadvertent incursions in the neighborhood of his enemy, as if for the 
purpose of throwing him off his guard. At last, Bern was on the other side of the room. 
The Thrush had been eyeing a dainty morsel which Bern had dropped about two feet 
from him. He looked, Bern was too much engaged to notice him, he could easily venture 
—he wonld— he did. Bern, whose keen eye had seen all, darted like lightning, and before 
the Thrush could turn about and seize again the contested treasure, Bern had alighted on 
the centre of the bed — the only place in the room where the Thrush would not follow him 
—and there quietly tore the grape to pieces and left it. 
“ But, alas ! we had to send our brave, sagacious Beni home again. We were to make a 
long journey to the South, and he must stay behind. Ah, the poor fellow knew as well as we, 
that we were bidding him adieu. He pecked our fingers in great distress, and bit our lips till 
the blood came, in the energy of his farewell— while he uttered such sad, low cries as made us 
mourn for many a day in the remembrance. 
“During our absence we wrote frequently inquiring of Bern, and many an injunction to 
him, to live and die, if need be, the same brave general we had known him. We never expected 
to see him again ; but, after a year of wandering, we did return to our old home. At once we 
went to see the general, little dreaming that we should be remembered. What was onr sur- 
prise then, when we called ‘ Bern ! Bern ! General Bern ! ’ to see our dear friend and pet dart 
down to us from his hiding-place, and most evidently recognize us — his eye sparkling, his 
scalp -feathers raised, his wings drooping, and that same low cry which had haunted us so long 
greeting us again. Our happiness was real ; and when we offered him the white paper, he 
instantly darted upon it, and tore it asunder to get the well-remembered treasure he had always 
found within. 
“Again Bern went home with us — this time to fill our hearts with affection by his quaint 
impish ways and gentle waywardness. How he became a privileged character; my paint-box 
was his especial admiration— he treated it with great veneration, having discovered that birds 
grew out of the little square pebbles, as he doubtless considered them, until one day he per- 
ceived I objected to his lifting from its case a black-looking, ill-shaped piece of paint, that I 
was even decidedly opposed to his meddling with it ; from that moment that particular piece 
became a treasure — its value so great to him, that, hide where I might, it had ever an invisible 
glitter, which to his eyes was brighter than any gem ; he would find and hide it from me, and 
thus I had at least once every day to search the room over for this indispensable color. 
“Ho matter that I threatened him, he coolly dressed his feathers and commenced so dreamy 
a song as to soothe my rage at once. He became my constant companion ; he bathed with me 
in the morning, he took his dinner with me from my plate, and perched at night close to my 
head. He sat on my shoulder or head when I worked, and seemed to express his opinion in 
regard to my progress in bird-making with quite a connoisseuring air. He grew to be pro- 
foundly jealous of all other birds ; and if I talked to a fine mocking-bird, whose cage hung in 
my room, he would become so enraged, and finally depressed, that I became alarmed — I feared 
he would die. 
“One day I had given this bird some water ; my hand was in the cage, the mocking-bird 
was pecking at my fingers, when with a loud and vicious scream General Bern dashed from the 
floor up into the cage, and commenced a violent assault on the inmate. The struggle was but 
for a moment ; he dashed out and I shut the cage-door, while Bern, mounted on the bed -post, 
sent forth such yells of fury as I never heard from birds’ lungs before. I could not pacify him 
for a long time — several hours ; he hid in the shade of the furniture, and would not be induced 
to come out. The next day the mocker was flying about the room, Bern assailed him, and the 
fight became so desperate that I was obliged to send the mocking-bird away, while my poor 
Bern was seized with convulsions, and I thought him dead after a few moments. But his time 
had not yet come ; he lived to pass through many such scenes of painful suffering.” 
Like the Brown Thrasher, the Hebmit Thetjsh is also a native of America, and is gener- 
ally found in the countries adjoining to the Mississippi during the winter, making a partial 
migration to Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee, during the summer. 
