Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/166

153 docility. One would feign to be dead, and suffer itself to be held up by the tail or claw, without exhibiting any signs of life; another would stand on its head, elevating its tail and feet in the air; a third would imitate a Dutch milkmaid



going to market with her pails on her shoulders; a fourth mimicked a Venetian girl looking out at a window; a fifth represented a soldier, mounting guard as a sentinel; a sixth was a cannonier, with a cap on its head, a firelock on its shoulder, and a match in its claws, with which it discharged a little cannon. This bird also pretended to be wounded, and was wheeled in a barrow to the hospital, after which, to shew that its misfortune was only feigned, it flew away before the