110 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
over in the woods by the Crow’s roost, time and time 
again, but he always comes hopping back.” 
Sarah Barnes was going to ask what else the Crow had 
done, when the Starling flew across the room and out 
through one of the windows that was opened from the top. 
“He’s gone!” she cried; “I’m dreadfully sorry, ’cause I 
wanted to look at him so’s I’d know Starlings if I see them 
again. Please, how did you get him? His wings seem 
very strong, and he flew as straight as anything.” 
“Larry has only gone out for a little fly,’ laughed 
Goldilocks; ‘‘he will be back before long, and if the win- 
dow should happen to be closed, he will rap on the glass 
with his beak. No, his wings are well and strong, and 
he is perfectly able to go away to his friends in the 
church tower, for it was from one of those nests, that 
Tommy saw up between the slats, that he fell. 
“Eben brought him up for mother to see, because a good 
many people down at the Centre Village had been watching 
these strange birds, and wanted to know their name and 
where they came from. He was too little to be turned out 
all alone, and Eben said that the nest had been upset and 
the others that fell out were dead, so, as he ate soaked dog- 
biscuit (because you know that there’s meat in it that 
makes up for bugs to young birds), I thought I would bring 
him up and then let him go; but you see the joke is that he 
won’t go, and he acts as much afraid of being out-of-doors 
after dark as a usual wild bird would if you put him in a 
cage.” 
“Who brought Starlings here, and do they belong to 
the same family as Blackbirds? They look a lot like them, 
only they’ve got shorter tails,’’ said Tommy Todd. 
