There is a little girl in Ohio, five years old, who has the power of
charming birds at will. Her mother was the first to notice the exercise
of this strange power.

The little Girl was playing in the yard where some snowbirds were
hopping about. When she spoke to them, they would come, twittering with
glee, and light upon her shoulders.

On her taking them in her hands and stroking them, the birds did not
care to get away. They seemed to be highly pleased, and, when let loose,
would fly a short distance, and soon return to the child again.

She took several of them into the house to show to her mother. The
mother, thinking the little girl might hurt the birds, put them out of
doors. But the little birds were not to be cheated in this way. No
sooner was the door opened than they flew into the room again, and
alighted upon the girl's head, and began to chirp.

The birds staid about the house all winter. Whenever the door was
opened, they would fly to the little girl. The parents feared that this
might be a bad omen, and that the little girl would die.

But she kept her health, and did not die. She still makes pets of the
birds, and they come and play with her. She handles them so gently, that
even a humming-bird has been known to come to her several times.

Last winter a whole flock of birds kept near the house all the season.
She would feed them, and then play with them for hours at a time. Every
morning the birds would fly to her window, and chirp, as much as to say,
"Good-morning, little mistress! Wake up, wake up!"