KATIE 
 o/BIRDLAND 
 
 EDITH KINNEY STELLMANN
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORtil 
 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 ROBERT ERNEST COWAN
 
 ROBERT ERNEST COWAN
 
 KATIE o/BIRDLAND
 
 C~7 
 
 \ C -*- > -L 
 
 o 
 

 
 cA Beautiful 
 Lake Where 
 
 I Fed the 
 Ducks Pieces 
 
 of Bread
 
 Katie o/Birdland 
 
 An Idyl of the Aviary in Golden 
 Gate Park / By Sdith Kinney Stellmann 
 
 cAuthorof" Exposition Babies" 
 
 Illustrated with 
 
 Special Camera Studies by 
 
 Louis J i Stellmann 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 H f S' Crocker Company 
 Publishers
 
 Copyright, 1917 
 
 Louis J. Stellmann 
 
 San Francisco
 
 'Dedication 
 
 Oh, birds: lucky creatures of air! 
 Whose wings bear you srwiftly on high 
 
 To a place 'where you scan 
 
 All the doings of Man, 
 ^Do you laugh at him, birds, on the sly 
 
 When he foolishly shows 
 
 oAll the little he knorws;- 
 Or do you look down 'with a sigh? 
 
 Edith Kinney Stellmann
 
 KATIE o/BIRDLAND
 
 KATIE of BIRDLAND 
 
 Q 
 
 F all the thousands 
 who visit Golden Gate Park, only a very 
 few see the Aviary. They go to the 
 Museum, the Conservatory, the Music 
 Stand, the Tennis Court and the Ani' 
 mals, and most of them do not even know 
 that on one of the tiny hills, almost hid- 
 den by trees, within a stone's throw of 
 the many more conspicuous attractions 
 that surround it, is a little world of birds. 
 There are cages so large that the little 
 winged folk inside of them scarcely real' 
 ise that they have not the freedom of 
 
 An Idyl of 
 Golden 
 Gate Park
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 the universe. Nor do they know that 
 the great stretch of three dimension wire 
 walls, which keep them in, are also for 
 the purpose of keeping out cruel enemies 
 of their own kind who would prey upon 
 them, from the belligerent sparrows, 
 which are not much larger than the 
 canaries themselves, to the big hawks 
 which circle far up into the sky. 
 
 There are many of these wire houses, 
 because feathered folk don^t know much 
 more about brotherly love than Humans 
 and, if they were all put into a single 
 domicile-no matter how large-they 
 would scold and fight and even kill one 
 another over something to eat, a place 
 in the sun, a choice apartment in some 
 particular tree or, perhaps, jealousy 
 about a lady bird. 
 
 Altogether they are very much like 
 people in their habits, emotions and adts. 
 One may learn a great deal in the Aviary. 
 
 In the first place, it is a lovely spot,
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 especially in the early morning, when 
 the air is crisp and fine and the sunlight 
 splashes through the leaves, dappling 
 the ground with spots of gold; and, in 
 the second place, it is exceedingly inter' 
 esting, because there are so many feath- 
 ered inhabitants of the wire houses- 
 hundreds of different kinds and colors 
 and shapes, from the King and Queen 
 of the Aviary, Mr. and Mrs. Bald Eagle, 
 to the tiniest finches, canaries and Japa- 
 nese Love birds so small that they look 
 like little red and yellow dots of bright- 
 ness on the golden-green background 
 of the sunlit grass. 
 
 Long ago I discovered this country 
 of Birdland and always it seemed to me 
 like an enchanted realm. Many and 
 many a time, I have expected some of 
 the feathered citizens to address me and 
 often I have talked to them and received 
 answers which I could not understand 
 but which I felt certain would be per-
 
 fedtly intelligible to anyone who had 
 learned the Bird Talk. 
 
 Something of all this I have confided 
 to old Mr. Proud, who is father to the 
 people of the Aviary. All the birds love 
 him, not only because he feeds them, 
 but because they know he is to be 
 trusted and that he wishes them well. 
 
 He laughs when I talk of such things, 
 my old friend, but in his heart I think 
 he believes them himself, and not long 
 ago he made an admission which led 
 to the wonderful adventure that is re- 
 sponsible for this book. 
 
 There was something mystic and un- 
 usual in the air that morning, at least 
 it seemed so to me. Mr. Proud stood with 
 a brilliant little paroquet on each hand. 
 They were chattering away to him and 
 one of them was trying to explain which 
 of his companions had taken a bite out 
 of his neck during a family discussion 
 on the evening before. The old man 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 Old SMr. 
 
 fraud and 
 the Paroquets
 
 looked very sympathetic and applied 
 some healing remedies to the wound. 
 
 "Mebbe you're right," he said,"These 
 little fellows could be taught to say 
 words just like parrots and mebbe they 
 think, too, like ourselves. There's one 
 of those pheasants over there-little 
 Katie-that's the smartest bird in the 
 whole Aviary. If she could talk, she 
 could tell you about everything."" 
 
 He picked up a pail of feed and ambled 
 off in the direction of the pheasant house. 
 
 "Come along with me," he called over 
 his shoulder, "and I'll introduce you to 
 Katie. Mebbe she'll give you an inter- 
 view when she finds out you're one of 
 those writer-folks." 
 
 Into the round house belonging to 
 the pheasants I followed Mr. Proud. 
 He waved his hand. 
 
 "This is Katie, Ma'am," he said, with 
 a sly wink. "Now, Katie, you be a good 
 girl and give this lady an interview." 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 10 
 
 It was easy to see why my old friend 
 thought so much of Katie. She was 
 wonderfully dainty and graceful-not a 
 bit afraid-and she had the knowingest 
 expression in her bright, dancing eyes 
 I have ever seen. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," I said, "she's a smart little 
 lady. To what family does she belong?" 
 
 There was no answer for a moment. 
 My old friend had gone on with his pail 
 and left me behind. Then the quaintest, 
 softest, most musical, little voice you 
 could possibly imagine said, near my feet: 
 "I am a Lady Amsherst." 
 
 I gasped with astonishment. There 
 stood Katie looking up at me, with her 
 head cocked on one side, evidently ready 
 for further conversation. In fad:, when I 
 made no response but kept staring down 
 at her with my mouth open, she added, 
 "You may not know it, but you belong 
 to the pheasant family yourself!' 
 
 There came to my mind something
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 that an old Mystic had told me long ago- 
 a quaint bit of Oriental symbolism-to 
 the effedt that every Human finds his 
 counterpart in bird or beast. He had 
 even classified me in detail. 
 
 " Why, ye-s," I stammered. "1 am a 
 Golden Pheasant." 
 
 "Quite right," said Katie in her de- 
 cided way, "and that makes us first 
 cousins." 
 
 I ^vas pleased, I can tell you, to be 
 taken right into the family that way, 
 so I smiled and cocked my head as 
 neatly as I could. 
 
 "Would you like to take a walk about 
 the Aviary?" asked Katie. "I can tell you 
 ail about the birds. Come on. We will 
 chat as we go." 
 
 "Nothing would please me better," I 
 agreed heartily, so we started. 
 
 "I hope you won't mind my saying 
 what I think about the Reeves branch 
 of the family," said Katie, deprecatingly,
 
 as we passed a handsome but cross-look' 
 ing pheasant who was scolding his wife 
 and glaring in a very hostile way at one 
 of his neighbors. "I don't like to speak 
 ill of anybody, but"-and here she sud- 
 denly raised her voice, "some people 
 think they're just too smart!" 
 
 Mr. Proud had spoken of this very 
 Reeves pheasant a few days before and 
 rubbed a red spot on his nose where 
 the irate bird had pecked at him, in a 
 fit of temper at feeding time, so I felt 
 disposed to agree with Katie and enjoyed 
 the snub she had given her ill-natured 
 cousin. As for the Reeves pheasant, 
 he made some sneering remark about 
 the beauty of minding one's own busi- 
 ness and turned his back upon us. 
 
 "I suppose," said Katie seriously, "there 
 has to be a black sheep in every family, 
 but I can't for the life of me understand 
 what makes Sam Reeves ad; that way. 
 He has a good home and his health is 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 13
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 14 
 
 The Silver 
 Pheasant
 
 fair, except for a little indigestion which 
 comes from his fits of temper. Some of 
 the young hen pheasants, who think he 
 is very handsome, blame his wife, but I 
 don't. Sally Reeves may have her share 
 of temper, but it would irritate the Dove 
 of Peace herself to live with Sam." 
 
 "That's very, very true," agreed a Silver 
 pheasant who stepped up to us just then. 
 
 "You will pardon me. I couldn't help 
 overhearing and I just had to say what 
 I thought of that Sam 'Handsome is as 
 handsome does' that's the way I look 
 at it." 
 
 The Silver pheasant looked a little 
 out of form. He had lost a couple of 
 his lovely tail feathers and, as he lives 
 quite near the Reeves bird and is said 
 to be fond of Sally, I formed my own 
 conclusions as to the cause of his ap' 
 pearance and remarks-even though I 
 agreed with the latter. 
 
 Katie was quite sympathetic about 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 15
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 16 
 
 the tail and we left the Silver pheasant 
 somewhat comforted. As we turned 
 away Katie raised her voice again and 
 remarked: "The Silver pheasants are all 
 as charming as they are good looking," 
 which made our late companion strut 
 and preen himself a bit. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, I am sure that is true," 
 I answered quickly, raising my voice, also . 
 Katie gave a soft, little laugh as though 
 she enjoyed the bit of flattery she be' 
 stowed. "That makes up for the unkind 
 remark I made," she said, "and it's per' 
 fectly true. The Silver pheasants are nice 
 birds-and the Golden pheasants are even 
 nicer." She gave me a sidelong glance, 
 full of mischief and I was rather embar' 
 rassed,so I made no reply, but did my 
 best to look like a bird. 
 
 "Na'a'a"n'a'rrr'um!" I heard in a pro' 
 longed croon, like a chant, over my head, 
 followed by a brushing, scraping noise. 
 We looked up and saw a large peacock
 
 The Leaf 
 bordered 
 <Path to 
 Birdland
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 18 
 
 alight on the wire netting above. He 
 perked his head vainly and said: "Here 
 I am. Don 1 1 look fine? Well, I should 
 say so!" 
 
 Katie was distressed by this show 
 of vanity and looked rather sternly 
 at the gorgeous visitor, but the pea' 
 cock was conscious of nothing save his 
 own lordly self. He spread his beauti- 
 ful tail feathers to their utmost capacity 
 and turned slowly as though he feared 
 too sudden a revelation of his splendors 
 might overwhelm us. It was a wonder" 
 ful display and I caught my breath with 
 admiration, but Katie was not a bit im' 
 pressed. 
 
 "I consider such pride the height of 
 vulgarity," she cried, and the peacock, 
 hearing her, flew off in high dudgeon. 
 I thought Mr. Peacock had rather too 
 good an opinion of himself for good 
 taste, but I have a failing for the gor- 
 geous bird.
 
 "Perhaps he can't help it," I ventured. 
 "He's very famous, you know. In olden 
 days he 'was held sacred to the God' 
 dess Juno." 
 
 "Well, that didn't keep Quintus Some- 
 bodyor'Other from serving him at a 
 banquet," said Katie disdainfully. "These 
 prize beauties seldom have any brains." 
 We dismissed the subjed: by common 
 consent as we turned into the leafbor' 
 dered path that led to the largest of 
 the bird palaces. 
 
 On the way, we passed several smaller 
 houses, where birds of prey, who cannot 
 be trusted with their more peaceable 
 brothers and sisters, dwell in solitary 
 dignity. In one of these, five owls blinked 
 mournfully and yawned prodigiously. 
 It gave me a drowsy feeling just to look 
 at them. 
 
 "They're terribly sleepy-and who 
 wouldn't be, if he sat up all night?" 
 laughed Katie. "Some people think they 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 19
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 20 
 
 5Vfr. Bald
 
 set a very bad example to the young 
 birds, but one must remember that it's 
 their nature-they can't help it, so we 
 shouldn't blame them, should we?" 
 
 An old owl heard her. "Humph!" he 
 grunted. "People are always blaming 
 their neighbors without taking the trou' 
 ble to inquire into the cause of their com- 
 plaints. That's the way with the world. 
 Folks seldom give others credit for the 
 good they do. They take that for granted 
 and never balance it against the bad. 
 Now we eat a heap of rats and mice and 
 keep the place safe for the young birds, 
 but nobody thinks of that. We're called 
 dissipated and wicked merely because 
 we have a different way of spending 
 our days and nights from others. That's 
 the way with folks- what's unfamiliar 
 to them is always condemned." 
 
 "Good for you, Bill!" said another owl. 
 "And I'll tell you something else: Besides 
 being scavengers we're very intellectual. 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 2,1
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 We know more than most birds. It 
 doesn't look like rain, does it? Well, 
 just you watch! The drops are coming 
 down pretty soon. Just you watch!" He 
 gave a long chuckle and then his head 
 sank forward; soon a soft snore showed 
 that he had relapsed into slumber. 
 
 We passed on to the next cage, where 
 the great American Bald Eagle, with 
 regal dignity, sat on his high perch. I 
 could almost see a pennant with "E 
 Pluribus Unum" under him. He looked 
 down very sternly, like a monarch-as 
 indeed he truly is-and instinctively I 
 saluted him as I would the American 
 flag, for he seemed just as much repre' 
 sentative of the nation. 
 
 "I wish you wouldn't glare so," said 
 Katie nervously. 
 
 "One must preserve one's dignity," 
 said the eagle mildly, "especially when 
 one is the emblem of the greatest coun 
 try on earth."
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 24 
 
 "Is that really true?" asked Katie, low- 
 ering her tone-a bit awed. "I know 
 he is King of the Birds, but I didn't re- 
 afe that he was so important to Hu- 
 mans as all that." 
 
 I nodded vigorously and we tiptoed 
 on, quite impressed by the grand air of 
 the Bird Sovereign. 
 
 In one of the biggest of the wire 
 houses, we found a lot of Mandarin 
 ducks. Some of them were splashed 
 with mud and none of them looked the 
 least dignified, which was something of 
 a relief after our visits to the Eagle and 
 Owls. The ducks looked so awkward, 
 comfortable and good natured, that 
 we just loved them. Certain of the ducks 
 make their home in a beautiful lake quite 
 a distance from the Aviary where I had 
 sometimes visited them and fed them 
 pieces of bread, but the rarer and more 
 interesting kinds abide in the great net- 
 covered compound of the Mandarins.
 
 Mr. Proud had fashioned a fine, new 
 nest for the Mandarins by suspending 
 a keg-both ends knocked out of it- 
 over a tiny pond by means of wires 
 fastened to a tree'bough above. They 
 were all very busy and few of them 
 vouchsafed us so much as a glance. 
 One elderly drake, who seemed to be 
 the father of the brood, finally turned 
 to us and said, apologetically, "This is a 
 fine nest, but it will take a lot of fixing. 
 Humans can only go so far. Our own 
 people must always put the finishing 
 touches on anything like this." 
 
 "Yes, indeed," confirmed a fat duck, 
 waddling up, "yes, indeed-that's right. 
 Excuse us, won't you? We're very busy. 
 Yes, indeed!" 
 
 She pulled out a few of her feathers, 
 which she proudly deposited in the bot' 
 torn of the keg and then looked rather 
 covetously at Katie's fine coat as though 
 she would have liked a contribution. The 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 25
 
 glance was not lost on my little friend. 
 
 "Let us move on," she said hastily. 
 
 "Well, good bye, then," piped a quaint 
 little voice which seemed to come al" 
 most from beneath our feet, and we saw 
 a wee quail which was standing so still, 
 we should not have noticed her at all 
 if she hadn't spoken. Katie said fare' 
 well to the tiny stranger and I learned 
 from my companion that the quail had 
 shocked her family and friends by refus' 
 ing to leave the Mandarin ducks- 
 though her people lived on the other 
 side of the Aviary. 
 
 "Perhaps she wants to study the 
 Orientals," I suggested. 
 
 "Maybe," agreed Katie, "but I think 
 the real reason is that the food is more 
 plentiful over here. The ducks are slow 
 and this little quail, who is very quick 
 in her movements, can pick up more 
 grain than among her own kind where 
 the competition is stronger." 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 27
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 28 
 
 "Why, the mercenary little wretch!" 
 I exclaimed in disappointment. "I 
 thought it was love for the ducks that 
 made her stay here." 
 
 "Well, you never can tell," returned 
 Katie, wisely wagging her head, "and 
 these days when the Competitive 
 System is so strong that all the Humans 
 are writing and speechifying about it, 
 you can't blame a little quail for look' 
 ing after her stomach." 
 
 "No," said I, "that is true, but how 
 did you learn about the Competitive 
 System?" 
 
 "Oh, we birds learn a great deal of 
 what is going on in the world," replied 
 Katie. "The sparrows and humming 
 birds tell us. They are always trying 
 to persuade the little birds to escape 
 from their cages and come out into the 
 Larger Life, as they call it. But the 
 little birds know better. They don't 
 trust the sparrows, who are the natu'
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 30 
 
 ral enemies of the tiny feathered people. 
 Come, we will visit some of them." 
 
 We entered the largest of the wire- 
 houses and jit was our good luck to 
 reach there just as our old friend, Mr. 
 Proud, arrived with a pail full of feed. 
 He called to the birds and they came 
 flying from everywhere to have their 
 morning meal. Katie introduced me to 
 a large number of wee birds, including 
 the Sociable birds, the dear, little 
 Chinese Love birds, some Linnets and 
 Finches, a Java sparrow and a Japanese 
 robin. The Finch family was quite 
 numerous. I can remember only a few 
 of their names, some of which were 
 very appetising and spicy, such as Mr. 
 Strawberry Finch and Mr. Nutmeg 
 Finch, and there was also a fat, little 
 bird of exceedingly prosperous appear- 
 ance, whose name was Mr. Gold Finch. 
 
 They all talked very rapidly and 
 made such a babel of piping sounds
 
 that I could not understand much of 
 their conversation, but they seemed 
 unusually harmonious for their manner 
 was polite, ever affectionate toward 
 one another, and it was a joy to watch 
 them. 
 
 "We mustn't stay too long," Katie 
 finally reminded me, "because they are 
 a bit shy before strangers and can eat 
 more comfortably when they haven't 
 any company," so we walked on and 
 entered another big house across the 
 main aisle of the Aviary. 
 
 Here I heard some very fine bird 
 music and when I asked Katie to intro' 
 duce the singer, she persuaded a sweet, 
 little thrush, who was trying to hide 
 in a tree, to come forward. 
 
 Miss Thrush was quite bashful and 
 seemed embarrassed when I told her 
 what a fine voice she had and how 
 much I enjoyed her song. She retired 
 as soon as politeness permitted, with a 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 The 
 
 Melancholy 
 Turkey
 
 shy word of gratitude and pretty soon 
 I heard her warbling and trilling again, 
 from some unseen source. 
 
 "I am glad you paid her such a com' 
 pliment," said Katie to me. "The 
 thrushes are all very modest and a 
 word of praise, now and then, is good 
 for them." 
 
 Quite a flock of pigeons flew over 
 our heads and called out greetings to 
 Katie and me. They were so cordial 
 and neighborly that I felt very much 
 at home with them and was thankful 
 that I had never eaten any squab. 
 
 Among the branches of a gnarly, old 
 tree, some beautiful, white doves sat, 
 picturesquely billing and cooing. They 
 stopped as we approached and looked 
 at me a bit dubiously until Katie came 
 forward as my sponsor. They wel' 
 corned me warmly when Katie told 
 them I believed most thoroughly in 
 Peace. We had quite a discussion of 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 33
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 34 
 
 this subject. They have formed a Peace 
 Society and are working very hard to 
 stop warfare and strife of all kinds. Some 
 of them were a bit discouraged by the 
 terrible battles in Europe, but most of 
 them were hopeful; they said that, some' 
 time in the future, birds and men too 
 would get together and talk their differ- 
 ences over calmly and sensibly instead 
 of shooting each other by the millions, 
 over disputes which nobody really un- 
 derstood. Some of them favored Pre- 
 paredness and others were seriously 
 opposed to it, but they didn't fight about 
 the best methods to achieve Peace, 
 which seemed quite encouraging when 
 I stopped to consider the way men go 
 about such things. 
 
 After we said goodbye to the doves, 
 we encountered a large, white turkey 
 of melancholy mien, who asked quite 
 solemnly, "Have you seen anything of 
 my Lady?"
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 35 
 
 Mr. Owl, the 
 
 Weather 
 
 Prophet
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 36 
 
 "He means his wife," Katie whispered 
 to me, and shook her head whereupon 
 the turkey gobbled sadly and went on, 
 searching in the most unlikely places and 
 never stopping a minute to rest. 
 
 "That's a very sad case," Katie told 
 me. "They were a handsome couple'" 
 he and his wife. She was a bit wild, 
 some said, but anyone could see they 
 were in love with each other. Well, 
 one day she disappeared. Of course 
 there was all sorts of gossip and scandal 
 but nobody really knows where she 
 went and he still believes that some 
 day she will turn up, though everyone 
 else has given up hope. I think grief 
 has affected his mind, poor dear!" 
 Katie again shook her head mournfully. 
 I met a crested Mocking bird from 
 Japan, who appeared quite a gentleman 
 and said he hoped our respective na' 
 tions would always be on good terms 
 in spite of the "jingoes" as he called
 
 them. I agreed with him heartily. We 
 stopped to listen to an English Black- 
 bird, who was making what sounded 
 like a long, dry talk on Peace and War 
 and the causes back of them. 
 
 "That fellow's something of a bore," 
 said Katie. "They tell me he is terri- 
 bly hen-pecked and scarcely gets a 
 chance to open his mouth at home, 
 and so I suppose the poor fellow im- 
 proves his opportunity whenever he 
 can get anybody to listen to him. The 
 skylarks are always teasing him. There 
 they are now, just listen to them!" 
 
 Very gay and a bit dissipated look- 
 ing were the skylarks, as they flew over 
 the head of the orator, calling out to 
 him and his audience: "Oh, come on 
 and have a good time. Don't be so 
 serious. It never does any good. For- 
 get your troubles and join us. We're 
 out for a good time." 
 
 Some of the speaker's auditors flew 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 37
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 38 
 
 away after the skylarks, to the annoy 
 ance of Mr. Blackbird. 
 
 "They have a good influence," said 
 Katie laughing, "because they keep us 
 from taking ourselves too seriously. 
 Sometimes they tease the doves and 
 say to them, 'Just smile and be happy. 
 That's what the world needs. If every- 
 one was happy there wouldn't be any 
 war/" 
 
 "There's a good deal in it, too," I said 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 "Yes," agreed Katie/'that's what the 
 whole world is after-Happiness-but 
 people have strange ways of pursuing it 
 sometimes." 
 
 "Was that a drop of rain?" I asked 
 suddenly. The sky had clouded and it 
 grew noticeably darker. 
 
 "My gracious!" Katie exclaimed in 
 consternation, "I do believe those owls 
 were right. We had better hurry back. 
 Besides it's nearly time for our noon
 
 meal and Mr. Amsherst never will eat 
 a bite unless I am there. He's posi' 
 tively foolish about me, though weVe 
 been married quite a while." 
 
 So we hastened our steps toward 
 the pheasant house. More drops of 
 rain were falling and I realised with 
 sudden dismay that my hat was not 
 waterproof. Katie scuttled in through 
 the door Mr. Proud had left open for 
 her. "Good bye," she said, "I do hope 
 my husband hasn't been worrying about 
 me." 
 
 "Let's not say good bye, but au re- 
 ro/r," I amended. 
 
 "Oh, yes, indeed," she agreed, cocking 
 her head, "you must come again very 
 soon and we'll have another promenade 
 together." 
 
 I would have liked to linger and 
 prolong the farewells, but I saw that 
 Katie was concerned about Mr. Ams- 
 herst's state of mind and, as I know 
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 39
 
 Katie of 
 Birdland 
 
 40 
 
 how that is myself, I didn't attempt to 
 detain her, but waived my adieus. 
 
 "I must stop, for a moment and apol' 
 ogize to that old owl," I thought to 
 myself, as I hurried along the path, 
 "even though I do get a drenching." 
 
 But the owls glared at me uncom' 
 prehendingly. The one, who had fore' 
 told the shower, had his head perked 
 on one side in a very saucy way as 
 though he was thoroughly enjoying the 
 discomfiture of those who didn't take 
 advantage of his weather prophecy. I 
 tried, in vain to talk to him but 
 couldn't make myself understood. 
 Though he and his mates were mutter- 
 ing, not a sound was intelligible to my 
 ears and I was forced to admit that 
 the magic of the day was over-I no 
 longer understood bird lore. Perhaps 
 the rain dispelled it; perhaps it required 
 the presence of a bird sister. That is a 
 problem I have yet to solve.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 This book is DUB 'on the last date stamped below 
 
 QL JUN 
 
 IUN 1
 
 PZ 
 
 S82k Katie of bird- 
 
 PZ 
 10.3 
 S82k 
 
 
 3 1158 00295