BIRD STORIES 



old-wood moisture within so that the room did not get 

 too dry. Of course, it needed a httle repair. But, then, 

 what greater fun than putting improvements into a 

 home? Especially when it can be done by the family, 

 without expense! 



So Mr. and Mrs. Chick fell to work right cheerily, and 

 dug the hole deeper with their beaks. They did n't leave 

 the chips on the ground before their doorway, either. 

 They took them off to some distance, and had no heap 

 near by, as a sign to say, '^ A bird lives here.'' For, so- 

 ciable as they were all winter, they wanted quiet and 

 seclusion within the walls of their own home. 



And such a home it was ! After it had been hollowed 

 to a suitable depth. Chick had brought in a tuft of white 

 hair that a rabbit had left among the brambles. Mrs. 

 Chick had found some last year's thistle-down and some 

 this year's poplar cotton, and a horse-hair from the lane. 

 Then Chick had picked up a gay feather that had 

 floated down from a scarlet bird that sang in the tree- 

 tops, and tore off silk from a cocoon. So, bit by bit, 

 they gathered their treasures, until many a woodland 

 and meadow creature and plant had had a share in the 

 softness of a nest worthy of eight dear white eggs with 

 reddish-brow^n spots upon them. It was such a soft nest, 

 in fact, with such dear eggs in it, that Chick brooded 

 there cosily himself part of the time, and was happy 



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