now he plays on the floor, with a little 

 piece of paper, cotton, or ribbon, and 

 eats his seeds and biscuit. 



I dress my hair high and it is Little 

 Billee's special delight to sit on the top 

 of my twist while I walk about my 

 room. During the first few weeks if 1 

 put him on the floor when he had been 

 in bed with me, he would hop back and 

 forth on the rug in front of my bed, and 

 beg to be taken, or he would fly straight 

 up. I would put down my hand, he 

 would hop upon my finger and in a sec- 

 ond be back inside the bed. If I was 

 sitting in a chair and put him down on 

 the floor, he would climb right up from 

 my feet to my neck, put his little bill 

 in my mouth and chirp with glee. One 

 day he was on the floor and did not see 

 me go back to bed, but saw my wrapper 

 over a chair (which stood about a yard 

 from my bed). He supposed I was in- 

 side of it, but when he reached the top 

 and found no mouth to put his bill into, 

 he gave several very mournful peeps, 

 but as soon as I spoke to him he chirped 

 and It did not take him long to fly over 

 to me. The next day when I put him 

 down on the floor I was anxious to see 

 what he would do. After teasing for 

 some time for me to take him, he went 

 to a chair, climbed up on the wrapper 

 until he reached the top, then flew over 

 to me. Ever after he came that way 

 when I refused to take him. 



One day I left Little Billee on the 

 rug in front of the bed and went into 

 my dressing room. While I was gone 

 my mother came in and sat down. 

 He was much frightened. Every time 

 she spoke to him he ran under the bed. 

 stuck his little head out from under 

 the valance and peeped for me to 

 come to him. When I spoke he an- 

 swered, but was too much afraid to pass 

 mother tocometome. When I came out 

 he ran quickly to me and flew onto the 

 back o( a very low chair. I bent down 

 and he flew up on my shoulder, chirp- 

 ing as loud as he could. No little child 

 could have shown more joy in getting 

 back to its mother. I do not suppose 

 he remembers any other mother, and 

 thinks all little birds have just such 

 good mothers as L 



I have a magnificent big tiger cat 

 named Taffy, so I thought Little Billee 



would be a very good name for my wee 

 bird. It seems a very appropriate name 

 too, as he spends a great deal of his 

 time dressing himself and manicuring 

 his nails. When he struts about with 

 his head held high you can plainly see 

 the long coat, high collar, high hat, 

 and umbrella and can easily imagine 

 the original Little Billee is before you. 

 But I fear Taffy and my Little Billee 

 will never go walking arm and arpi to- 

 gether. Taffy has already caught Lit- 

 tle Billee twice, but I have rescued him 

 from the jaws of death before any harm 

 was done. I am trying my best to get 

 them to live contentedly together. I 

 do not allow Little Billee to go out 

 into the hall for fear he will fly down 

 stairs and be caught by Taffy before 

 anyone can reach him. Before the 

 door into the hall is a small rug and he 

 thinks flying over that a great feat, but 

 when I say, ''Little Billee, come right 

 home," he returns instantly. 



He goes to bed at eight o'clock m a 

 little basket which I put on the top of 

 some hanging shelves so there will be 

 no danger from Taffy in the dark. 

 Taffy sleeps on my bed every night, 

 and very often on the outside when 

 Little Billee is inside, and it seems like 

 the lion and the lamb lying down to- 

 gether. Little Billee will usually be 

 contented in his basket until 7 o'clock 

 in the morning, then I take him into 

 the bed with me where he lies quieth' 

 on my arm, neck, or palm until I get 

 up at 9 o'clock. He never makes a 

 peep unless I speak to him, then he 

 chirps away like a happy child. On 

 fine evenings I sat before an open win- 

 dow from 7 o'clock until 8 with Little 

 Billee on my finger listening to the 

 birds. When he became sleepy he 

 tucked his little head under his wing, 

 in a few minutes crawled into the 

 palm of my hand and went sound 

 asleep, ready for his basket. 



When the hot wave came I went 

 down-stairs at 7 o'clock, shutting him 

 up in his cage. 



The second night 1 had hard work 

 to catch him. He ran into the hall 

 and would not come when I called to 

 him. The third night, when he saw 

 me making preparations to dress, he 

 acted like mad. He hopped all around 



42 



