PETER THE GOLDFINCH 243 



him. Often he flew away with them, but it was not long 

 till he was again in his own garden. 



The fall before I became acquainted with Peter my Aunt 

 Eve Adams had given me a canary bird. It was scarcely 

 grown, and no one knew whether it would prove a singer 

 or not. I cared for this bird carefully and it had become 

 very tame. Each day I watched for it to begin to sing. 

 My friends, wise in bird lore, said it did not sing because 

 I allowed it too much freedom. I never believed birds 

 were made to live in cages. I had a cage for my canary, 

 but it was little more than a convenient roosting and 

 feeding place, for the bird was allowed the freedom of the 

 house. 



I called this bird "Dick." Had I waited a year, the 

 name would have been different. Dick soon learned that 

 the stove pipe was apt to be hot and that the dining room 

 table was forbidden ground. Otherwise he went wherever 

 he pleased. He was on the best of terms with the old 

 spotted cat. It was not uncommon after we had all been 

 away for some time to find this cat quietly dozing behind 

 the stove with Dickie sitting on her head pecking at her 

 ears. If he happened to peck a little too hard she would 

 open an eye sleepily, utter a little mew of protest, and 

 perhaps shake him off of her head and then go back to 

 sleep. 



When the weather became warm I often hung the bird 

 cage in the great willow tree in front of the kitchen door, 

 and before many days Peter discovered and began paying 

 attention to Dickie. Finally it dawned on us that Dickie 

 had been misnamed. We left the cage door open most of 

 the time. At first Dickie seemed afraid of the great out- 

 of-doors but before long she flew everywhere, but always 



