BIRD STORIES 



the doorstep to his gUstening pan, chattering his funny 

 tune the while. 



Have you heard of a Highland Fling or a Sailor's 

 Hornpipe? Well, Corbie's Happy Dance was as gay as 

 both together, when he jigged in the dooryard to the 

 tune of his own merry chatter. The Brown-eyed Boy 

 and the Blue-eyed Girl laughed to see him, and the 

 Grown-Ups laughed. And even as they laughed, their 

 hearts danced with the little black crow — he made 

 them feel so very glad about the bath. For he had been 

 too warm and was now comfortable. The summer sun 

 on his feathered body had tired him, and the cooling 

 water brought relief . ''Thanks be for the bath. O bird, 

 be joyful for the bath!" he chattered in his own lan- 

 guage, as he spread his wings and gave again and yet 

 again his Happy Dance. 



But a basin, however bright, is not enough to keep a 

 crow in the dooryard ; for a crow is a bird of adventure. 



So it was that on a certain day Corbie flew over the 

 cornfield and over the tree-tops to the river; and so quiet 

 were his wings, that the Brown-eyed Boy and the Blue- 

 eyed Girl did not hear his coming, and they both jumped 

 when he perched upon a tiny rock near by and screamed, 

 ^'Caw," quite suddenly, as one child says, ''Boo," to an- 

 other, to surprise him. Then the bird sang his chatter 

 tune, and found a shallow place near the bank, where he 



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