IF BIRDS COULD TALK. 223 



" You wouldn't be so cruel, so hard-hearted 

 as to hurt or kill our pretty children, would 

 you ? It would break our hearts. Birds, you 

 must know, have hearts as well as people, and 

 birds love their children, too. They wouldn't 

 take such good care of 'em if they didn't. 

 Now, how would your mamma and papa feel 

 if some great giant, a hundred times as big 

 and strong as they are, would come along and 

 pick you up in his hands and carry you off ? 

 Wouldn't they be heartbroken ? And you 

 wouldn't like it, either — to be kidnajied in 

 that way. So just put yourselves in our 

 place, and we don't think you will ever hurt 

 young birds." 



You hurry away without touching the open- 

 mouthed brood in the grass, and as you stalk 

 along you notice a red-headed woodpecker 

 scudding up a fence stake. See him hitch 

 along his promenade until he reaches the top, 

 where he perches and looks around in a wise 

 way like a feathered sage, swinging his head 

 back and forth like a pump handle, and calling, 

 " Ktr-r ! ktr-r-r ! " And what is the sermon that 

 this red-headed preacher delivers ? Listen ! 



" I'm glad you don't carry a slung shot, my 

 lad. A slung shot is a bad thing for us birds. 

 We like to live as well as you do, and we kill 



