The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-10-22
HOSPITAL FOR BIRDS.
OF Course the Parrots Take the Lead In
Making Things Lively.

Ch y "ahb " Nndl WAS InG
equally quick reply.
why, doncher wanter kiss me, you
fool" shouted the parrot.
The lady bent over the cage, and the
quarter of century old bird in its sub
dued green dress imprinted kiss on the
lips that chided the feathered member
of the family with You're a naughty
bird!"
The sharp eyes of the parrot for a min.
ute were downcast. He studied the
sand In the bottom of the cage, but,
perking his head erect, summoned cour-
age and said in doubtful way: well,
don't know"
Few persons know that there is bird
hospital in Boston in Mount Vernon
street, and few know how interesting
birds are until they visit the GONZALES
cent ones in their boarding house.
In the ward of the hospital there was
a colony of aristocratic birds from the
Back Bay and Brookline housed for the
summer. Their mistresses had gone off
to the seashore or mountains, and some
| had crossed to the old world, but their
| feathered pets were summering in the
West End, lest by change of atmosphere
the tiny things contract asthma or
bronchitis, for birds have lungs, and
lSery delicate ones, too and while in DAYS
gone by, like the babies of the slums, it
was the survival of the fittest, to-day
they are sent to a bird physician, who,
| by treatment, restores vitality to the
| featheriess flesh and sends the warbler
back to its home as fat as butter, with
its plumage as yellow as gold. And, by
the way, the healthy canary is notable
| for the yellowishness of its plumGgp,
and may rightly be set down as an adj
vocate of the gold standard.
The bird hospital on Mount Vernon
street has existed for five years, and
some of the birds there have been willed
| to the keeper of the birds boarding
house with fund sufficient to maintain
them during their mortal soiourn," as
the aged preacher would say. There
are 60 of them housed in comfort, and
by spending an hour among them one
learns many of their curious ways.
Some of the canaries have bells hang
ing in their cages, and one of them has
the habit Of telling everyone about that
he is cross by pulling the bell The
more ferocious he feels TO his fellow.
birds and his mistress the harder he
tugs away at the bell.
But there is another kind of "bell, 8"
and this time it is spelled belle" They
| H.,
considerable firt; indeed, some of the
more prudent birds whisper more aw-
full names than that about her charac-
ter, forwherever Juliet goes a half-dozeu
or more of her male admirers follow her,
and she has caused considerable jeaI-
Gus feeling in at least one bird colony
and she's quite young one, too. HeT
| imprudence has been the cause of sew
eral changes in her domain lately. She
has even been confined to a solitary cell
as means of discipline.
"Doody," another parrot, sings GU.
rious ditty. conspicuous for its want Of
| rhythm, but he enjoys it and laughs
heartily over his production of 'Doody,
Doody, puddin' and pie; when the girls
come out to play, Doody, Doody runs
away"
The letter ST." in girls bothers his vo.
cal organs, and while he is trying tc
sing it he twirls it out as if it were tbs
smoke from cigar. until his falsettc
tones are piped so high that he loses
himself and bursts forth in a peal Of
laughter intensely suggestive, and then
goes on with his story.
There are canaries by the dozen, and
rated at all prices; paroquets and paro,
quotes, mule birds, which indicate their
name to perfection by their stubborness
and beautiful Virginia nightingale
which every traveller in the south would
recognize as the little fellow that sings
after dark III the rice fields of his native
state but is still as a mouse by day.
"Tippie," one of the merriest and
most active of the paroquets, is con
stantly singing: I'm quiet little Tip
pie" even though the people about him
declare he is not.
The parrots, of course, claim all atten-
ton, because of their ability to express
idiIS u'tSt, anu Olt VI them actually re-
cites Twinkle, twinkle, little star" in
very audible tones. The habits of the
birds are so much like those of human
beings that it is their delight to sit al
the window and look out at the passers-
by as if they really understood what
they saw, and they are so jealous that
II one is more petted than another they
show their displeasure by Tapping their
wings against the sides of their cages.
In the matter of bathing there is a
great difference with birds. Some just
frisk about in their bathtubs, and chirp
and sing with delight, and others are
too indolent to battle at all. In the lat
ter case they have to be bathed like ba-
bies every day.
All save a couple that had come i'll
during the day for treatment were in
splendid condition when the Herald re-
porter saw them.
The effects of their country home have
certainly been beneficial.-Boston Her
aid.
He Got Rested.
"Did you get rested?" Fogg asked of
Henderson on the latter's return from
Europe. Yes, | did" answered the
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