JOURNAL OF MAINE OKNITIIOLOGICAI. StJCIlCTY. 63 



About the most amusing development of Sambo's captivity was 

 the day he made the ac(juaintance of the family cat, Captain Dannie. 

 The Captain was an investigator, probably owing to his bringing 

 up. At any rate, he made it his business regularly every day to 

 make the rounds of the house and garden, smelling of and prying 

 into every new bundle that had appeared indoors and investigating 

 every new plant that was set out in the garden, or smelling of every 

 new flower that bad bloomed over night and showing his great appre- 

 ciation of the more beautiful ones by rubbing his head against them 

 and purring. The Captain's chief aversion was a strange cat in 

 either his house or garden, and the mere scent left by one passing 

 in the night was sufficient to arouse his ire the next morning, his 

 anger being expressed by vigorous hissings and hahs, while with his 

 ever-ready right paw he cuffed the offending spot. 



Of course in the making of his daily rounds it was not long be- 

 fore Captain Dannie discovered something new and strange perched 

 on the work bench in the shop and motionless. It is here well to 

 explain that Captain Dannie was thoroughly acquainted with stuffed 

 birds and skins and paid no more attention to them than to look 

 them carefully over, so in this case he probably thought "Ah, there 

 is a new bird mounted. I think I will look it over at closer range." 

 So up jumped the Captain and went up to Sambo and smelled him 

 over. So quietly had this been done that Sambo did not know of 

 any visitor until he was touched, when he opened his eyes and per- 

 ceived the intruder. Immediately he puffed himself up as big as 

 four Owls, looking for all the world like a greatly enraged mother 

 hen as far as the erected plumage was concerned, and expressed his 

 displeasure by hissing and cracking his bill. Of course the Captain 

 was astonished, and that is where the fun came in, for the expres- 

 sion on his face as he jumped back a foot or so was of great aston- 

 ishment. He seemed to be saying, "What! A cat in my shed! 

 Why, what a strange cat! I never saw a cat with feathers on it 

 before, but it must be a cat because it has eyes like a cat's and ears 

 like a cat's, and it hisses just like I do." At least that is what 



