BEGINNING OF THE BIRD STORIES 89 



and lovable than those few whose acquaintance you 

 will make this summer. 



" I do not wish you to be confused by long words, so 

 I shall give you their plain English names and divide 

 these birds of our stories into six classes. By and by, 

 when you have heard a few facts about them, we will 

 group them into families ; and I will tell you so much 

 that, if you use your eyes well, you will be able to 

 name any one of these birds when you see it out in 

 the open air. You must always remember, children, 

 when you see birds flying about, that you will not no- 

 tice many little markings and bits of color that would 

 be quite plain to you if you held the bird in your 

 hand, or looked at it in a case, as you look at these 

 stuffed ones now. A bird whose breast is spotted may 

 look striped when seen at a distance. 



" When you are in doubt about the name of a bird 

 that you have seen, you can come here and look for 

 it ; but very few children can do so. At best they can 

 only look at pictures, and I do not wish you to depend 

 upon the specimens in this room." 



'' No," said Rap, '' because if our bird stories are 

 printed, and other children read them, they may not 

 have an uncle with a ^ wonder room ' ; and so they 

 must learn the names without." 



" That is another reason why we must have a great 

 many pictures in our book, for these children," said the 

 Doctor. " Now write the names of the six classes into 

 which all our birds are to be gathered. 

 I. The Birds that Sing. 

 II. The Birds that Croak and Call. 



III. The Birds that are Cannibals. 



