L. Umbagog, Maine. / C *-vt » 
my fingers, and, when I approach** the cage closely, flutter wild¬ 
ly against the wires on the opposit side. They eat nearly every¬ 
thing that is offered them, but seem particularly fond of ripe 
pears and the flesh of small-**- birds. On putting an English Spar¬ 
row in their cage, they at once began to tear it to pieces, and 
in a short time nothing remained of it but a few bones and feath¬ 
ers. They have become very gentle towards one another, and I now 
keep them in the same compartment. One bird is continually car¬ 
essing the other with it-; bill and uttering the low cooing notes 
above described. They are very clean in their habits and take a 
thorough bath every morning, plunging into a large basin and acat- 
tering water o ver their backs until their plumage is completely 
soaked. jn addition to the food above mentioned-, the have eaten 
a number of earth-worms , but of these they do not seem to be par¬ 
ticularly fond. They have a habit of soaking nearlu everything m 
water before eating it, especially if the morsel is of a dry 
character, such as cracker. Portions of the Sparrow just men¬ 
tioned, however, were also soaked before being eaten. Their spir¬ 
its vary to an extraordinary degreewith e-i-ws-e 
• roJatrorr - to the weather, fin clear, cold mornings when their cage 
is hung our of doors, they are very active and noisy, hopping 
incessantly from perch to perch and continually uttering their 
various cries. This behavior lasts during the entire day. If 
the weather is clear and wa rm they are sornewhet less animate dan d 
spend more time in basking in the s .pn . f During dark cloudy, and 
especially rainy weather, they are and move about very little, 
sitting with t'^eir feathers ruffled and apparently suffering from 
great depression of spirits. 
