, anywhere, out of
his way, bringing up in the most unaccustomed places; as, for instance,
a dignified bird, who never went to the floor, coming to rest under the
bed, or a ground-lover flattened against the side of a cage. All this
disturbance seemed to please the thrasher, for he had a spice of
mischief in his composition. A never failing diversion was teasing a
goldfinch. He began his pranks by entering the cage and hammering on the
tray, or digging into the seed in a savage way that sent it flying out
in a shower, which result so entertained him that I was forced to close
the door when the owner was out. This the thrush resented, and he next
took to jumping against the side of the cage, clinging a moment, then
bouncing off with so much force that the cage rocked violently. Then he
placed himself on the perch by the door, and pounded, and pulled, and
jerked, and shook the door, till, if the owner were home, he was nearly
wild. Having exhausted that amusement, he jumped on the top and in some
way jarred the cage roughly. To protect it I made a cover of paper, but,
contrary to my intentions, this afforded the rogue a new pleasure, for
he soon found that by tramping over it he could make a great noise, and
he quickly learned the trick of tearing the paper into pieces, and
uncovering the little fellow, who, by the way, was not in the least
afraid, but simply enraged and insulted, and when outside stood and
faced his tormentor, blustering and scolding him well.

Tearing paper was always amusing to the brown thrush. I have seen him
take his stand near the wall, peck at the paper till he found a weak
spot where it would yield and break, then take the torn edge in his bill
and deliberately tear it a little. It was "snatching a fearful joy,"
however, for the noise always startled him. First came a little tear,
then a leap one side, another small rent, another panic; and so he went
on till he had torn off a large piece which dropped to the floor, while
I sat too much interested in the performance to think of saving the
paper. (The room and its contents are always secondary to the birds'
comfort and pleasure, in my thoughts.) A newspaper on the floor
furnished him amusement for hours, picking it to pieces, tearing
pictures, from which he always first pecked the faces, dragging the
whole about the floor to hear it rattle and to scare himself with. A
pile of magazines on a table made a regular playground for him, his plan
being t