They sometimes alight on the table and pick up crumbs, and Fluffy will even hop on to the edge of your plate and steal your dinner. They look very tiny when they hop about the table.
Fluffy is a very greedy bird. She is always eating, and whenever she sees a loaf of bread on the table she cheeps and cheeps until she gets some crumbs.
Now when Ida saw these birds she looked very sad.
"Why, Ida," said Godfrey, "you look quite ready to cry. Whatever is the matter?"
"Well," said Ida, "a most dreadful thing happened yesterday. A lady asked me to take care of her canary while she went away to do some shopping. I did so, and was teaching it to fly about the room like Fluffy and Dicky.
"It was a very valuable bird, and she prized it greatly.
"In the afternoon I thought I would let it out of its cage. It flew round the room a few times, and then to my horror it went straight into the fire. There was just a little squeak, and it was gone."
The bright fire had attracted this little bird, and now Ida did not know how she would tell the owner when she came back for her pet.
So this is a warning to all little boys and girls who have birds to keep—to be sure to put a guard before the fire before letting them out of their cages.