I soon learned to distinguish him easily; his cap was very
bright, and his white cravat very full, and his song never stopped at
the second note, for he had mastered the trill perfectly. Then, too,
he was more friendly and fearless than all the others. The morning
after our arrival (it was better weather, as Simmo and Killooleet had
predicted) we were eating breakfast by the fire, when he lit on the
ground close by, and turned his head sidewise to look at us curiously.
I tossed him a big crumb, which made him run away in fright; but when
he thought we were not looking he stole back, touched, tasted, ate the
whole of it. And when I threw him another crumb, he hopped to meet it.
After that he came regularly to meals, and would look critically over
the tin plate which I placed at my feet, and pick and choose daintily
from the cracker and trout and bacon and porridge which I offered him.
Soon he began to take bits away with him, and I could hear him, just
inside the fringe of underbrush, persuading his mate to come too and
share his plate.
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