lOO 



One dear old lad}^ whose white hair hung unkempt 

 upon her pallid face, carried a coal-scuttle in one hand 

 and in the other a breeding cage, with nests, seed 

 boxes, and two terror-stricken Canaries. The hygienic 

 condition of the cage would have struck dumb the 

 editor of Bird Notes, and it proved beyond argument 

 that the honeymoon of the fair songsters was not an 

 ideal one. Next came a little Italian boy with a stump- 

 tailed Parrakeet hanging by beak and claws to his 

 coat-collar, while he tugged along a demi-john of 

 ** foot wine." Later one met with a business - like 

 mechanic with a paper-protected, red-stained cage. 

 In one corner crouched a '* Grey Linnet" who at that 

 time, no doubt, yearned for the quiet, gorse-covered 

 moors of dear old Albion. 



By noon the flames had devastated an area one 

 mile long by one and a half miles in width ; the water 

 mains were broken, the fire absolutely beyond control, 

 the big mercantile houses, banks, churches, and 

 public buildings one sea of seething, blast-furnace 

 conflagration. 



On the opposite side of the main street stood the 

 famous " Call'' building, a magnificent stone structure 

 capped by a restaurant, the loftiest in the world and 

 the resort of all tourists, who enjoy from its windows 

 an unequalled panoramic view of the city, bay, and 

 foot-hills. Alongside this structure were a number of 

 smaller ones, one of which was the famous " Old Crow 

 Whiskey Saloon." The window of this saloon was 

 entirely at the disposal of two crows, who always had 

 a numerous audience outside as they disported them- 

 selves on a ten-foot tree stump, ate raw beef, and 

 drank whiskey. One was especially a celebrity ; 



