328 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
sitting,’ said Sarah; “and then by and by, when they 
build another nest, maybe they’ll put it out on a branch 
that’s weak, and when it storms and the nest gets wet 
and heavy, it falls down all of a lump. They seem to 
get along best when they come under the porch or get 
in a high up crotch.” 
“T like Robins,” said Eliza, who sat next, ‘‘ because 
they stay around and let you look at them; but I think 
that they aren’t very clever birds, for instead of keeping 
quiet when anything comes near the nest, they holler 
like everything, so that you can tell just where it is. 
We had a nest in the grape-vine outside the kitchen 
window, and you couldn’t believe what those little birds 
ate in one day. I had the mumps and had to stay inside, 
so I watched them. They ate all the time, that is, in 
turn, for the old birds seemed to know just which one 
had food last. Sometimes, if they had a little worm 
or a bug, they gave it all to one, but if it was one of those 
long, rubberneck earth-worms, they would twist it and 
bite pieces off and ram one down each throat. 
‘““My Ma said it made her dreadful tired to see how 
much those four little birds ate, and that if children were 
as hungry as that, nobody would have the patience to 
cook food and raise any. When they grew too big for 
the nest, they sort of fell out into the vine and stayed 
in that for a few days, and their father and mother fed 
them just the same. They couldn’t fly well at first, 
because their tails were so short that they upset.” 
“You watched them quite carefully,’ said Gray 
Lady, ‘‘but can you tell me what happened after they 
were able to fly?” 
