and proportioned mynah of dignified mien and buffoon disposition; and he and David became inseparable comrades. It has been said that mynah birds have a language of their own, and also that they can be taught to speak the human language; but in this case the reverse took place, and Evalani insisted that the bird taught David to speak its own language. At any rate, they would sit on the floor by the hour, playing and chatting away with each other, and David always insisted upon telling them of the various things that Kuli-kuli had said; and the remarks certainly were well adapted to what might be expected from such a source. And so, in this game, the little boy reached a point of being able to mimic the mynah's chatter with marvelous accuracy, even to the queer, plaintive little whine with a rising inflection which is the bird's note of inquiry and is always followed by flight. Their favorite sport was a sort of peek-a-boo, done with a newspaper folded to a stiff, tent-like peak, through which the bird would dash and peer out at his friend, and then David, lying flat upon his stomach, would grab at him and he would dart back and come slithering around on the outside, only to dash away again, squawking, when the small hand would make another grab. And then he would come stepping softly down through the tent again and the tip of his sharp bill would come poking out of the opening, followed by a shining black and yellow
