large head into her small drinking-cup which was murky with dissolved cracker, for Poll tenaciously clung to the evil habit of dipping her cracker in water before eating it. When her bath-tin was filled with tepid water and placed within her cage, she could be counted on to wet the entire area of the room with its contents, as well as to deafen any spectator intrepid enough to venture near, with her vociferations. In the process of drying herself, which lasted most of the day, she disclosed crimson touches under wing and tail, ordinarily hidden from view; but resented with an animosity disproportionate to its cause, any interest one might show in her personal charms. Indeed, the suspicion was forced upon one that she courted small attentions in order to find excuse for the outlet of her unrighteous spleen, so large was her endowment of this attribute. Everything was occasion of offense to her, and particularly any intimation that her proper sphere was inside her cage. She resented interference at this point with fiendish animosity, but her migrations extended to so wide an area, that we were driven to devising a cross bar of broom handles, firmly attached to a metal base so that she
