The Hatching Cat of Gotham

One day in July 1867 a large red parrot escaped and came into Union Square. In an instant, the news was transmitted to sparrow headquarters, and in three minutes the intruder was attacked by an army of sparrows. It was driven from tree to tree and finally driven to the flagstaff of Dr. George Barrell Cheever’s Church of the Puritans, shown here, on the southwest corner of E. 15th Street and Union Square West. The church was constructed in 1846; next door was the Spingler Institute for Women. In later year this was the site of Tiffany’s, and today it’s the site of a Sketchers and HSBC bank.