Billie was because he was afraid of 

 him, and so carefully watched. I knew 

 there was not a place in the house I 

 could hang the cage where Taffy could 

 not get at it if he made up his mind to 

 do so. Of course for days and weeks 

 I felt anxious, and did not mean to 

 leave them alone together. I never 

 turned Taffy out of my room. If he 

 went up to the cage and put up his 

 paw I would say "Taffy, you must not 

 put your paw on the cage," and as he 

 always minds he would take it right 

 down, sit by the cage, and I would 

 talk to him kindly. Fortunately 

 Tricksey was not at all afraid of Taffy. 



Taffy always wears a yellow satin 

 collar with bells all around. Often I 

 would hear him coming upstairs when 

 I was lying down and I would keep very 

 quiet to see what he would do. Some- 

 times he would come over to the cage, 

 look at Tricksey pleasantly, then lie 

 down b> the fire and go to sleep; more 

 often he would lie down without even 

 looking at him. But the moment he 

 heard me talking to Tricksey he would 

 get up and come to me to be petted, 

 and I always gave him a great deal. 

 One day when Taffy was in another 

 room I let Tricksey out, and tried to 

 be very quiet. I was sitting on the 

 floor with Tricksey hopping about me. 

 Before I hardly knew it Taffy was in 

 my lap, and soon I had Tricksey on 

 my knee eating seeds. If I took the 

 cage on my lap with Tricksey inside 

 Taffy would immediately jump up and 

 crowd in between the cage and me. 



Taffy was very much afraid the first 

 time he saw Tricksey take his bath, and 

 ran under the bed and peeped out from 

 under the valance. 



One morning the cage sat on the 

 floor, and Tricksey was ready for his 

 bath, when Taffy came in and sat close 

 to the cage. Tricksey took a big drop 

 of water into his bill and threw it into 

 Taffy's face, Taffy moved back a little 

 and looked all about to see where it 

 came from. While he was looking 

 Tricksey went into his bath, and 

 splashed the water all over Taffy's face 

 in a very roguish way. To say Taffy 

 was surprised is speaking mildly. He 

 turned to me with an angry cry and 

 went out of the room. The next morn- 



ing the same thing happened; but in- 

 stead of going out of the room, he 

 went on the other side, out of reach 

 of the water, but where he could see 

 all that went on. 



After that he became so interested 

 he did not mind if the water was 

 splashed all over his face and would 

 sit as close to the cage as he could get. 

 While Tricksey was eating his break- 

 fast he would lie down close to the 

 cage and go to sleep. As I previously 

 said I never meant to leave Taffy in the 

 room with Tricksey, but he was often 

 there hours before I knew it. When I 

 found him he was always asleep in 

 front of the cage or by the fire. 



One morning after the bath I put the 

 cage up in the window. Taffy did not 

 seem to like it at all. He looked at 

 me most wishfully, and began talking 

 cat language, and I knew he was say- 

 ing, "Please put Tricksey back on the 

 floor." I did so, and Taffy began to 

 sing, lay down with his back close to 

 the cage, stretched out and went to 

 sleep. He had been lying that way 

 for an hour when some visitors came. 

 It seemed too bad to disturb Taffy so I 

 left him, and thought I would risk it. 



Two hours passed before I went back, 

 and you may imagine my delight when 

 I found my two boys (so different in 

 color, size and disposition) as happy 

 as two kittens. Tricksey was singing 

 merrily. Taffy had wakened, changed 

 his position, and looked as if he felt 

 very proud, being left to take care of 

 his small brother. His eyes were as 

 soft as velvet, and he spoke to me in a 

 soft, cooing tone. Since then I have 

 never felt there was any danger in 

 leaving them together. I regret to say 

 Tricksey has a strong will of his own 

 and almost as bad a temper as Taffy. 



At different times I had three wee 

 baby birds brought in to me, but they 

 all died. Tricksey was very jealous of 

 them, and when he saw me feeding 

 them he would become very angry, 

 beat his wings against his cage, and beg 

 for me to let him out. One day I put 

 one of the little strangers on the floor 

 and let Tricksey out. He flew at the 

 waif and tore feathers out of the top of 

 his head. I took the poor little fright- 

 ened thing in my hand. Tricksey flew 



19 



