124 OUR HOME PETS 



ing as a place to put the cages to rights, and 

 later as a bathing apartment for the residents. 

 The daily routine of the room was this : After 

 my breakfast I brought out from a cupboard 

 devoted to the birds' belongings a coarse 

 grater, a clean newspaper, a box of mocking- 

 bird food, a carrot, and a silver knife. Sitting 

 down before the table, I grated as much car- 

 rot as I needed on to the newspaper, then 

 added to it an equal amount of mocking-bird 

 food, mixed it thoroughly with the knife, then 

 laid it away in the paper for use. I then pro- 

 duced from the cupboard a dish-pan, which I 

 filled with scalding suds, and placed on the 

 table with dish-mop and towels; then a pitch- 

 er of fresh water and two or three tin quart 

 boxes of seed, which I put on a smaller table 

 one side. 



Then I was ready to begin my work of 

 clearing up. From all the cages I took the 

 dishes often there were twenty emptied 

 the sour or dry mocking-bird food, blew off 

 the shells, and emptied the seed-cups, drop- 

 ping every one into the hot suds, from which 

 they emerged clean and smoking, and were 

 wiped and set on the other table, all of one 



