One of these birds had once the boldness to attack two canaries
belonging to a gentleman in Cambridge, Mass., which were suspended, one
fine winter's day, at the window. The poor songsters, in their fear,
fluttered to the side of the cage, and one of them thrust its head
through the bars of its prison; at this moment the wily butcher tore
off its head, and left the body dead in the cage. The cause of the
accident seemed wholly mysterious, till, on the following day, the bold
hunter was found to have entered the room with a view to despatch the
remaining bird; and but for a timely interference, it would instantly
have shared the fate of its companion.
This bird has been observed to adopt an odd stratagem. It sticks
grasshoppers upon the sharp, thorny branches of trees, for the purpose
of decoying the smaller birds, that feed on insects, into a situation
whence it could dart on them.