40 
NATURK STUDY. 
no easy matter to extricate the little prisoner. Spiders’ 
silk is surprisingly strong. And when at last he lay in my 
hand, bound wing and foot, and paralyzed with terror, it 
was still harder to disentangle those tiny, tiny feet. I 
never so realized the Brobdingnagian size of my hands. 
A Chipping Sparrow, attracted by blossoming plants in 
an open window, slipped in between the upper and lower 
sashes, where he was singing for dear life while I was puz¬ 
zling my brains in an effort to rescue him from his predic¬ 
ament. Finally I drew down the lower sash, which 
brought him up where I could “ scoop ” him out, when he 
flew away like a flash, still excitedly singing. He left all 
his tail-feathers behind, however. Fright has a strangely 
loosening effect on a bird’s feathers, and as it was two 
months before his new suit was due, we could easily trace 
him while he went cheerily about his duties as the father 
of a family. 
A Chebec and a Black and White Warbler were caught 
in the same way in the stable window, where they had 
come for insects. But they took life differently from Chip¬ 
pie, and when rescued, lay in my hand in a fine tremble of 
fear for a full moment before flying. 
A cuckoo, seeing some large pet birds in a window, was 
minded to make a friendly call, but not knowing the 
strange fact that in house walls there were square spots 
of air that resisted one’s progress, he flew against the win¬ 
dow with such force as to throw him back on the ground, 
apparently dead. I picked him up and held him tenderly 
in my hand, and after a time he struggled to his feet, which 
he twined tightly about my finger in an effort to steady 
himself. The pretty, graceful creature stood there a long 
while, and so won the heart of me that to this day I have 
to confess to a sneaking fondness for the Cuckoo, despite 
the bad things which people say of him, and which I fear, 
alas ! are deserved. 
