friends to any extent. But my attention had been caught by seeing what
looked like a nuthatch: only it was moping and ill, with eyes shut and
feathers ruffled. I asked about it, and was told it had some injury to
its foot, and was unsaleable, as the woman feared it would not live. I
made a bid for it, and it was accepted. I confess I was not sorry to
leave the stilling air of the shop and bring my new pet home. I fitted
up a large cage with pieces of wood and tree-bark, a pan for bathing,
sand, and fine gravel; a bone with a little meat upon it hung from the
roof of the cage, and other suitable food was placed in a tin. The poor
birdie was a pitiable object for some days; she ate now and then, but
remained for the most part quite still, with closed eyes, from morning
till night. Then she began to creep up and down the small tree-stem I
had placed in the cage. She took a bath and plumed herself, and in less
than a fortnight she became quite well and vigorous, and very amusing
in a variety of ways. Never was there a more active, busy little
creature.

Her characteristic was life, so she was named "Zoee," and before long she
seemed to recognize her name, and would give an answering chirp. The
pieces of bark appeared to afford a never-failing interest. They were
examined and investigated in every crevice. Like a little woodpecker
hanging head downwards, Zoee would hammer at a nut fixed in the cracks of
the bark, and would hide away unfortunate mealworms not required for
immediate use.

Zoee regularly honeycombed the little tree-stem with her incessant
hammering, and in the numerous holes thus made she kept her supply of
food. No sooner was her tin filled with small pieces of raw meat than
she began stowing them all away for future use. She seemed to exercise a
good deal of thought about the matter; a morsel would be put in and out
of a hole half a dozen times before it was considered settled and
suitable, and then it had to be well rammed in and fixed, and off went
the busy little creature to fetch another piece, and so on, till all
was disposed of, and the tin left empty. Zoee was greatly exercised by a
half-opened Brazil nut: it was too large to fix into the bark, it would
not keep steady while she pecked at it, and yet there were good things
inside which must be obtained. I watched her various devices with great
amusement. She hung head downwards from the tree-stem and hammered at it
on the ground, but it shifted about