178 THE ART OF TRAINING ANIMALS. 



the principal disturbing elements are the monkeys, who fre- 

 quently obstinately insist upon not being happy, and slinging 

 the mice around by their tails, pulling out the birds' feathers 

 and other little acts of playfulness. The stout wire very soon 

 reduces them to quietness, and it very seldom happens that any 

 serious disturbance occurs. Doves and vultures roost calmly 

 side by side, mice nestle confidingly in the cat's soft^ warm fur^ 

 and so natural does it all seem, that, for a moment one scarcely 

 realizes of what incongruous elements the whole is made up. 



The origin of this novel idea of the Happy Family was pro- 

 bably this : Francesco Michelo was the only son of a carpenter 

 who resided in Tempio, a town in the island of Sardinia. He 

 had two sisters younger than himself, and he had only attained 

 his tenth year when a fire reduced his fathei*'s house to ruins, 

 and at the same time caused the death of the carpenter himself. 

 The family were thus reduced to beggai-y, and the boy in order 

 to provide for the necessities of his mother and sisters took up 

 the occupation of catching birds for sale. Constructing a cage 

 of considerable dimensions &om laths he proceeded to the woods 

 to secure the nests of young birds. Being active and industrious 

 he succeeded tolerably well, but the prices he obtained were 

 not adequate to the maintenance of the family. In this dilemma 

 the boy conceived a new and original method for increasing his 

 income ,• necessity is the mother of invention, and he meditated 

 no less a project than to train a young Angora cat to live harm- 

 lessly in the midst of his favorite songsters. Such is the force 

 of habit, such the power of education, that by slow degrees he 

 taught the martial enemy of his winged pets to live, to ent, to 

 drink, and to sleep in the midst of his little charges without 

 once attempting to devour or injure them. The cat, whom he 

 called Bianca, suffered the little birds to play all manner of 

 tricks with her j and never did she extend her talons or harm 

 them in any way. 



He went even farther, and taught the cat and the birds to 

 play a kmd of game, in which each had to learn its own part. 

 Puss was instructed to curl herself into a circle, with her head 

 between her paws, as though asleep. The cage was then opened 

 and the birds rushed out upon her and endeavored to awaken 

 her with repeated strokes of their beaks ; then dividing into 

 two parties they attacked her head and her whiskers, without 

 the gentle animal appearing to take the least notice of their 

 gambols. At other times she would seat herself in the middle 

 of the cage, and -begin to smooth her fur ; the birds would then 

 settle upon her back, or sit like a crown upon her head, chirrup- 

 ing and singing as if in all the security of a shady wood. 



