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Show : ' v L' in i1 ; i. V v! ' ,J :p i i N , v- . "Mockey.V a bird with a voice capable capa-ble of earning 1100 a week on the Or-pheum Or-pheum circuit, if he would only sing when given the cue and respond to encores, en-cores, arrived at the Knutsford. hotel from Los Angeles late last night and was assigned to the -' most prominent portion Of the office, his spacious cage being hung up Just under ' the an-, nunctator. ' ' A bottle of "bird food" not the kind most affected by "hot birds," but composed com-posed of seeds came with Mockey. As Mockey's owner specially requested that be be kept quite warm and given plenty of .water. Landlord Gus Holmes bought a sprinkling pot of the tinner around the corner and ordered that Mockey be given a thorough irrigation every hour, Mrs.4Shoudy being told off for this pleasant duty. , Mockey sulked In his tent . all the evening, but woke up about 4 a. m. with a start. Incidentally, many guests did likewise. First he examined his pipes carefully to see if they had been injured in-jured in transit. They hadn't. Then he ran The gamut; in fact, he had half a dozen gamuts tucked under hla soft feather and he ran 'em all. - . . t one after the other; and. to show that it was no sort, of a task to run 'em, het worked them up and down, from the center and back again, and then some. Sleepy guests ' rang their 'phones to learn who In "dunderundblltzen was playing that new automatic piano at this time of the morning, and wouldn't the night clerk kindly oblige by throwing throw-ing him out?" ,i ...-..' Mockey heard, but he drew one leg up, cocked his bright, eye sapiently -end began imitating a chicken hawk to life. This was followed by the cry of alarm of a young chick and the protecting call of the mother. Then the ."thud, thud, thud, thud" of a big redhead woodpecker woodpeck-er Jarred the rafters, so to speak. Next It was the plaintive cry of the catbird; changed to the shrill whistle of master for old .Towser;'. then the la? of the ! robin; next the roystering cry. of the I bluejay, and so on, until one was constrained con-strained to believe, the staid old Knutsford Knuts-ford had been transformed Into a mammoth mam-moth apiary.- -' - - Thus Mockey spent the morning hours and if any grouchy guest came down with -a complaint to file, a single look at the knowing bird disarmed him and made another friend for Mockey. Mrs. Shoudy forgot all about giving him irrigations ir-rigations hourly, and smiled as aha made out bills . for the guests going east and west. It seemed like some- J thing soft and melting had broken loose among all the guests, and everybody every-body had a pucker In his Hps. .. " ; . People came In to ask questions, and finished by whistling them. The . big fat man selling a famous brand of Kentucky firewater puckered his fat lips and said "fhwltl fhwlt! fhwlt!" and then blushed like a boy. "Takes me back to my old Southern home," said a pompous old gentleman with a rose in his lapel and a bunch of white hair on his chin. And Mockey seemed to know, and sang with his little throat swelled till tho festers were all ruffled and it looked .bigger than his pretty I SJe - t ' At luncheon time the big orchestrion started up, and Mockey was puzzled to get his bearings, being compelled to steer without compass for a few bars. "Then he saw that the thing upstairs was not In his class, and he started out to drown its voice. Such a competition as it was! And many there are who accorded the palm to Mockey. ' ' He also entered Into an Interesting contest during the forenoon with the new self-playing piano, whose . notes were louder, but not so sweet.' Mockey has stamped himself a prime favorite at the Knutsford,' and when Mr. Kendall Ken-dall takes him away there will be a big vacant spot In the hearts of many of the guests. . , ; "Mockey is a noisy fellow," said Proprietor Pro-prietor Holmes, "and he may keep the guests awake; -but we will keep him warm, and he shall have all the water he can drink and the best In the house." The bird Is valued at several hundred dollars and is one of the rarest of sweet singers. - . . - f |