Year: 1865

lencc.


Stand back q little, and watch the
performance. Ho hops upon the edge
of the dish, takes taste TO SEQ if the
water is about tho right temperature,
then--no he don't. He is keep
ing q sharp lookout. You are not going
to como up and hit him q rap over the
head, on the sly, not If he knows him
self. Pretty soon he hops in. 1t
makes his legs cold, and he hops out
again. Takes another look to SEQ if
the coast is clear, then goes in in earn
est. First, he ducks his head, with q
shake and a fiirt; then squats his whole
body into the water, and with his
wings makes a prodigious futter and
spatter and concludes by final
splash with his tail. Docs it again
does it ever so many times; and comes
out looking as if hc had been on o
bender, and got caught out in rain
storm. His soft, shiny, yellow coat is
all drenched and dripping, his funny
little top-knot is all ruffled.


Two or three shakes and o half hour
of sunshine makes that all right, and
Dick is as handsome and merry as ev-
er. A new concert commences imme-
diately. He is both solo and chorus,
and dashes off, allegretto con SpIito,
all the favorite airs of bird opera,
with many trill and flourish not
down in the books. " .,,..lat.u...


Dick has one bad habit. He gets
up too soon in tho morning. He is
emphatically an "carly Bird" though
there are no worms to be caught. Tho
sun has risen with great regularity for
so many years, that am quite willing
to trust Old Sol to light up without CIV
ing the matter my personal attention.
Not so with Dick. He is on keen
lookout for the first hint of daylight,
and reports progress twenty timos a
minute, in his most gay and festive
tones. The whole house rings with
his melody. Talk about the earns of
Morpheus morphine could hardly
sleep in such q jubilee. "Sing before
breakfast, cry before supper says the
old adage. Wife didn't like so much
singing before breaktast-it disturbed
her siuubers. She shut the blinds
closely, and covered tho cago with her
apron. No use--he couldn't hold in.
Then she put him in a dark closet
Must leave the door ajar to give him
air you know. The little rascal stuck
his bill to the crack of the door, threw
his head back, and ratified away as
loudly as ever. He was just gushing
over with song. We had to let him
gush.


One day my wife let him out in the
room for exercise, and he happened to
spy his reflection in the toilet glass
Dick bristled up instantly. So did the
reflection. Giving sharp cry of dc.
fance, at it he went, pell-mell. 1t rath-
er puzzled him, bringing up smack
against the glass with a concussion
that made us fear for the safety of the
mirror, and landed him in great dis
order upon the bureau. Promptly raj
lying his forces, he charged again and
again, with great petuosity. The
one-sided combat was very amusing.


By and by, he saw the joke-he
thought. Finding the other bird had
just as good grit as he, Dick strove to
cultivate his acquaintance. He would
stand for the hour together in front Of
the glass, putting on his most soduc-
tive airs, chirping and twittcring to
the handsome stranger in his softest
and sweest tones. And, on the cage
being removed, he would look and call
for his lost companion for long time,
before rcsuming his musical practice.
To this day, the easiest way to hush
his singing is 10 set him in front Of
the glass.


Canary birds don't havo tho small
pox, or the whooping- cough that l
know of, though l did hear, once, of
ono that died of tho measles. But
they moult. That is the price they
have to pay for new suit of clothes.
When they are moulting, they don't
seem to feel well. Dick has had his
experience. For six weeks he Moped,
and scarcely sung note. Occasional
ly he would brighten up, and softly
thank us for our tender care of him.
Once in a while he would try to sing.
He done his level best" but the notes
wouldn't come out clear and strong.
His feathers came off like thistle
down, atevcry feeble futtcr. conc
by one" his tail feathers dropped off,
and Dick acted as if he was ashamed
to be seen in such plight.


Now he is all over it. As l re-
marked at the beginning, with stri-
king originality, Orchard is himself
again." His oyes sparkle with lifo
and merrimcnt; his voice is loud and
cloar, and tuned to concert pitch his
bran now yellow coat is soft and
smooth, and fits him to feather: his
tail, like tho tales in tho New York
Ledger, is destined to be continued"
and he is so port and frolicsomo, so
alert and cunning, and withal so joy
full and happy continually, that we
mover tire of petting him.


Look at him now, as he hangs among
the branches of goranium tree, fast
asleep and all unconscious of this long
rigmarole have been writing about
him. Dick asleep is not at all like
Dick.awake. Unlike most little peo-
Pile, he makes no fuss about going to
bed. He just balances himself on one