r amusement, he indulged in gymnastics on the roof, running about,
head down, on the wires, as readily as a fly on the ceiling, and often
hanging by one claw, swinging back and forth, as if to enjoy the
upside-down view of the world. If he stood still two minutes on a perch
he was usually asleep; and both of these birds indulged in daytime naps,
in which they buried their heads in their feathers, exactly as they did
at night.

The lord and master of this household was extremely fastidious in his
fare. Mockingbird food he despised, bread and milk he left to his cage
mate, apples were too hard to please him; nothing appealed to his taste
except the tenderest of Bartlett pears, and of these he condescended to
eat one a day. After a while, in his trampish fashion of prowling about
in other birds' houses, he discovered that mockingbird food was not so
bad; and although he scorned it at home, he soon spent half his time in
going from cage to cage, pulling over the food-supply, and selecting
dainty bits for his own delectation. Naturally, he had many encounters
with insulted proprietors, and some narrow escapes from a pecking; but
he accepted these little episodes in the spirit of the tramp, regularly
poached upon his neighbors, and nothing would keep him out of others'
cages, or convince him that his own dish was as well supplied as any.
The truth is, he seemed to be devoured by a fear that some one was
better provisioned than he; and this feeling went so far that in the
cage of a seed-eater he ate seeds, though since he did not take off the
shells he was obliged to throw them up in a ball somewhat later. Like
many other birds, the orioles were fond of huckleberries, which they ate
daintily, driving their sharp beaks into a berry, and holding it under
one toe while they neatly extracted the pulp, thrusting far out their
long white tongues in the operation.

[Sidenote: _HIS DEAREST DELIGHT._]

Meal-worms--the choice morsels of the bird-room--came near driving the
oriole wild. It was natural for him to take one under his toe, and pull
off small bits till all was eaten, but his greed made this way very
distasteful. How could he be satisfied with a slow manner, while
thrushes and bluebirds took one at a gulp, and were ready for more? He
could not; he put himself in training, and in a few days could bolt a
worm as quickly as anybody. Now it became the object of his life to
secure them all for himself. He was so quick in movement