|As Uncle Will was going home one noon, he saw a crowd in the street
near his house. There were about fifty boys, and they were standing
about something that seemed to please them. Their shouts of glee could
be heard a long way off.
[Illustration: 0059]
Uncle Will walked up to find out what was the matter. What did he see
but his tame crane, Zip. He was perched on one foot in the midst of the
boys, pecking at them right and left. Not a boy could come within six
feet of him without feeling the point of his sharp bill.
The boys thought this was great fun. They never had seen so strange a
bird. But poor Zip did not enjoy it. When he saw Uncle Will he ran to
him, and tucked his head under his arm. He was glad enough to be taken
home.
Zip was very fond of music. When the piano was played, he would stalk
into the house, if the door stood open. If the door was closed, he would
tap on the window till he was let in. Then he would dance up to the
piano, and strike upon the keys with his beak. If the tune was a lively
one, he seemed to enjoy it all 'the more; he would tap faster and
faster; his bill would come down, pounce, between the fingers of the
player, but it never hit them.
[Illustration: 0060]
It as good as "man's-buff" to But Zip grew lie got up at day-the garden.
Some-night, when the clock struck. His voice was loud, but it was not
sweet. He was not Jenny Lind; he was only Zip. The neighbors did not
enjoy his songs. They said he waked up the babies. So poor Zip was sent
to the country. There he was very sad, and sang a great deal. But there
was only one baby to hear him, and that baby was deaf.