BIRD STORIES 



Bus3^ with the Hie Nature taught them to hve, the 

 twins grew up as Uncle Sam had grown before them. 



As they were hunters, there was nothing more interest- 

 ing to them than seeking their food in wild, free places. 

 They had no guns and dogs, but they caught game in the 

 swamp. They had no cooks to prepare their ducks, so 

 they picked off the feathers themselves. They had no 

 fish-line and tackle, but they caught fish in the lake. 

 And in time they caught fish in the air, too; which was 

 even more thrilling, and a game they came to enjoy 

 when they overtook the ospreys. Many times, too, they 

 sought the fish that had been washed up on the lake 

 shore, and so helped keep things sweet and clean. In 

 this way they were scavengers; and it is always well to 

 remember that a scavenger, whether he be a bird or 

 beast or beetle, does great service in the world for all 

 who need pure air to breathe. 



The first year they became bigger than their father, 

 and bigger than they themselves would be when they 

 were old. At first, too, their e3^es were brown, and not 

 yellow like their father's and mother's. And for two 

 years their heads and tails were dark, so that they looked 

 much more like ^'golden eagles" than they did like the 

 old ones of their own kind. 



The soldiers at the training-camp caught sight of 

 them now^ and then, and named them the '' Yankee-Doo- 



