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 I 
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 of 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 I. 
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 arm 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 in 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 quietly 
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 I 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 
