The San Francisco call., 1910-01-01
ny MLIHNnIlTm MMING

CII/ ATRIN& is long name for a
small yellow canary bird, but
that is what they call me, and,
after ALL I think it is quite as pretty
and much more uncommon than those
of the other birds, so I am satisfied
and hope you will be so, too
This morning I heard Laurie-she is
the little girl in our house-say that
was not a pretty bird like DlcI1y.
my father. or Buttercup who is as
yellow and glossy as the flower whose
name he bears. Buttercup is no rela-
ton of DiclSy's or mine but we are
very fond of him. He has not been
with us very long but he is already
learning to trill aud warble like Dicky.
l am sorry nay little mistress does
not think me pretty but at all events
1T Is consoling to know that the birds
even that ridiculous and simpering
little Sweete-think / am good to look
at and certainly they give me my way
in everything.
Perhaps / take it, but it amounts to
the same in the end You see. I am
not year Old yet and | am stiu the
baby among the birds, the others being
Older by a year or more
l suppose 1 am spoiled. but / feel
that ! must have the first few pecks
at the delicious red peppers Laurie puts
into our cage or the first nibble at the
crisp green lettuce leaves She gives us
occasionally, and Dicky, my father
though he is so big and hadsome,
stands meekly aside until | have had
my fiji.
[ suppose it is not very respectful
to treat ones father so. but sometimes,
for mischief, I hold the perch beside
the food after / am satisfied and it is
amusing to see Dicky's maneuvers to
reach the delicious morselS Some
times he will wait, eyeing me impa-
tiently and sometimes he will venture
to snatch bite by holding on to the
wires, but never has he ventured to
oust me from my position.
was not always so well treated by
the other birds Sweetie, while very
meek to my face, had a way Of tweak-
ing my tail and then looking very
innocent, and as / never could catch
her at it | could not prove ANYTHING.
Buttercup. too, would sometimes have
a little tiff with me on the subject, so
when any little luxury was given us,
l was glad to be alone in the cage
with Dicky, my gallant little father,
who let me do about as I pleased
1t seems too absurd, but 1t was all
through that ridiculous Sweetie that
Dicky and | came to be in the family.
Dicky belonged to two small boys
and still smaller girl. who were con-
tinually sticking their small fingers
into his cage and making life un-
bearable for him.
So one day when they had been un-
usually troublesome and had fright
ened him greatly by opening the door
Of his cage and trying to catch him,
he just flew through the little fingers
that yainly tried to hold him and
10, he was gone. Up, up he few, over
the tops of the houses. resting for a
moment on the roofs, and then on
again, until, painting and exhausted, he
took refuge in the thick branches of a
tree in large garden.
All that afternoon he stayed in his
leafy refuge, at times pouring forth
such flood Of melody that passersby
stopped to listen and the neighbors
threw up their windows to catch a
glimpse of the little songster.
But Dicky, friendiess little Dicky, re-
membered the sticky little fingers, and,
being a wise bird, stayed right among
the green leaves, where he could not
be distinguished from the thick foliage.