BIRD STORIES 



was one with slender bill and bobbed-off tail, black 

 cap and white breast, grunting, ''Yank yank, " softly, as 

 he ate. 



But there was none to come who was braver or hap- 

 pier than Chick, D.D., and none who sang so gayly. 

 After that good Christmas feast he and his flock returned 

 each day; and when, in due time, the ice melted from the 

 branches, it was n't just suet they ate. It was other 

 things, too. 



That is how it happened that when, early in the 

 spring, the Farmer Boy examined the apple-twigs, to see 

 whether he should put on a nicotine spray for the aphids 

 and an arsenical spray for the tent caterpillars, he 

 could n't find enough aphids to spray or enough cater- 

 pillars, either. Chick, D.D. and his flock had eaten their 

 eggs. 



Again, late in the summer, when it was time for the 

 yellow-necked caterpillars, the red-humped caterpillars, 

 the tiger caterpillars, and the rest of the hungry crew, 

 to strip the leaves from the orchard, the Farmer Boy 

 walked among the rows, to see how much poison he 

 would need to buy for the August spray. And again he 

 found that he need n't buy a single pound. Chick, D.D. 

 and his family were tending his orchard! 



Yes, Minister Chick was a servant in the good world 

 he lived in. He saved leaves for the trees, he saved rosy 



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