t rebels
on our hands, and even Dame Gentle, who "had a way" with birds, could
not cajole them into a League of Lovers.

When the cage door was opened for putting in or taking out the small
glass bathtub, it was a ticklish matter to prevent their escape, for
they could dart like mice through the least crack and, sly atoms of
conspiracy, were always on the lookout for a chance. Warned by bitter
experience, we saw to it that the windows were closed before that
perilous task was undertaken, but too often a victorious squeal from
Koma would announce his exit, and Taka, hopping in sympathetic
exultation from perch to perch, would urge him on with ancient Japanese
war-cries while he soared from mantel to chandelier, vanished in the
folds of a portiere or flashed from fern to rubber-plant. If he
succeeded in reaching the entry, he would prolong the game by hiding in
overshoes and umbrellas, while Taka, now that Koma was away, would at
once set up his pleading, poignant call and never cease until the
truant, snapping his pink bill and kicking fiercely with scratchy
little claws, was thrust back into the cage. Much as Taka might play
the tyrant, he could not bear having Koma out of his sight and reach.
Once, after an especially savage duel in which Koma had been badly
trampled and pecked, we put the wounded hero into a cage of his own and
hung it in the adjoining room. Forthwith both those scamplings raised
such a prodigious outcry and lament, taking on as if their naughty
specks of hearts were broken, that we brought back Koma's cage and hung
it in the window beside Taka's. But even so they scolded and protested
and, as the shadows fell, established themselves each on the extreme
end of a perch, as near one another as they could get, but with the
cruel wires and a few inches of space between them. Still they fumed
and fretted until we returned Koma, mauled as he was, to Taka's cage,
when instantly they nestled their plumy sides close together and
blissfully went to sleep.

Yet we kept both cages in use, separating our tiny incorrigibles when
their battles waxed dangerous. They loved to talk them all over
afterwards, gabbling like schoolboys, but if one of us chanced to
approach the window--"Sshh! Don't tell the ogre," and in an instant
they were dumb as toy idols. When we had time, we would occasionally,
after taking all due precautions, throw wide their cage doors and
invite them to enjoy the freedom of the room; but liberty