s I had fixed in the links.
When he was more than a year old, and I thought he might be depended
upon, I tried the rather anxious experiment of letting him out of doors.
He soon became quietly happy, investigating the wonders of tree
branches, inquiring into the taste of leaves and all kind of novelties,
when two or three sparrows flew at him and scared him considerably. Away
he went, followed by the sparrows, and I began to repent my experiment,
and feared he might go beyond my ken and lose himself. He was out nearly
an hour, but at last he returned and went quietly into his cage. It
seemed strange that the wild birds should so soon discover that he was
not one of their clique, but I suppose Verdant revealed the secret by
looking frightened, and the others could not resist the fun of chasing
him. For more than a year and a half my birdie was a constant pleasure.
Whenever he entered the dining-room my first act was to open Verdant's
cage, when he would always fly to the bullfinch's cage and greet him
with a chirp, then look to see if his friend had any provender that he
could get at--a piece of lettuce between the bars, or a spray of millet
to which he could help himself; no matter that Bully remonstrated with
open beak, Verdant calmly feasted on stolen goods _con gusto_, and then
scouted around for any dainties on the carpet, where he sometimes found
a stray sunflower seed, always his greatest delight. After his summer
moulting he became wonderfully vigorous, and would fly round the room
with such velocity that I often felt afraid he might some day fly
against the plate-glass windows and injure himself.

That mournful day came at last! He had been out as usual at
breakfast-time, came on my finger for a seed, had his bath, and went on
the little swing for more seeds, and flew about with all his joyous life
and vigour. We had only left the room for a few moments, when, on
returning, the dear little bird lay dead beneath the window, against
which he had flown with such force as to break his neck and cause
instant death.

The sorrow of that moment will never be forgotten; indeed, I cannot even
now think of my little pet with undimmed eyes--he was a moment before so
full of life and beauty, so fearless, such a "sonsie" little fellow;
and then to hold the little golden green body in my hand and watch the
fast-glazing eye, and think that I should never again have my cheery
little friend to greet me and be glad at my coming,