foot was peculiar. It had grown a very long 
nail, so long, in fact, that it could be of little use 
to the bird. The father was a doctor, and, think- 
ing to do the robin a kindly service, he took a 
sharp knife and cut off part of that funny toe- 
nail, so as to make it the length of the others. 
Then after Billy kissed it on the head, they let it 
fly out of the window. 
Now this is the way it came about that Master 
William Strong, Junior, of Plattsburg, New 
York, and Master Robin Longtoe of the same 
address, first met one night in the days of their 
youth. Billy looked for it often after that, but 
although there were several robins about, he 
could never be sure that he saw this particular 
one, and in time winter came and the robins all 
left. 
I should like to tell you about the happy days 
Billy spent that winter, and the games he played 
at school, of the trips his father took him on the 
ice when the big lake froze over, of the moving 
picture shows he saw, and all that; but this is a 
book about birds, so we must let Billy’s story 
go until another time, and tell about Robin 
57 
