. My pets; real happenings in my aviary . thanthey did the few mice that I could not keep out ofthe aviary. The mice were really very amusing, asthey crept quietly from place to place, searchingfor the scraps of food the birds had left. They weres 273 My Pets not afraid of me, and I often smiled as I held up mylantern and saw them climbing over tree trunks andbranches, as naturally as if they too were birds,and occasionally stopping short, and peering at mewith their beady eyes. I guessed that the cutthroat had been exploring,and in searching for a new place for a nest had beenled by his curio
. My pets; real happenings in my aviary . thanthey did the few mice that I could not keep out ofthe aviary. The mice were really very amusing, asthey crept quietly from place to place, searchingfor the scraps of food the birds had left. They weres 273 My Pets not afraid of me, and I often smiled as I held up mylantern and saw them climbing over tree trunks andbranches, as naturally as if they too were birds,and occasionally stopping short, and peering at mewith their beady eyes. I guessed that the cutthroat had been exploring,and in searching for a new place for a nest had beenled by his curiosity to enter the squirrels opendoorway. Resenting the intrusion, they had prob-ably jumped at him and killed him. I knew that redsquirrels would kill birds, and being now suspiciousof these gray gymnasts, I had a carpenter come andfasten their box outside instead of inside the net-ting. Naturally, they did not stay in it, and I hoperan either to the gardens or the park, where theywould find numbers of red squirrels to play withthem. 274. CHAPTER XXVIII JAPANESE ROBINS AND A BOBOLINK I HAVE not up to this time said much about thebirds in my collection that were usually mostremarked by strangers. They were the Japaneserobins, or Peking nightingales. I had heard of these red-billed, orange-breastedlittle birds with their large black eyes, and shortlyafter I began keeping birds had one sent to me. Hewas indeed a beauty, and in excellent condition, andhad traveled as comfortably as a bird can travel ina good-sized cage with plenty of food and a spongein his drinking-cup, so that if the water were spilt,he could suck the moisture from it. 275 My Pets I took him Into my study, and in trying to sliphim from his traveling-cage into a larger one, forI always like to keep new arrivals in quarantine fora few days, he escaped from me. Now I was to see some of the lightning-likemovements that the bird books spoke of. I closedthe doors and he went around the room like a streakof light. I tho
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