84 OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS. 
But the birds seem to do more work than play. It 
is as if they were saying, 
“ All play and no work 
Makes a bird a mere shirk.” 
Most father birds help their mates in the cradle 
making, whenever they can get away for a few minutes 
from the orchestra. But the mother has the care of 
everything and does the most and the finest work. 
We have sometimes thought the mother would do better 
if left all to herself, the fathers are so fussy and awk- 
ward at housekeeping. 
Once, in the middle of winter, we saw a father linnet 
trying his best to coax his mate to build a nest on a 
little shelf on the upper balcony. He carried straws 
in his bill, and sat on the shelf, and coaxed his mate 
to his side, whispering to her, as if he were saying, 
“How nice this is,” and urging her to “Go right to 
work.” We guessed all that, you know, about their 
talking together, while we stood and watched them 
out of the window. 
But the wise little mother bird just laughed provok- 
ingly and flew away. We thought she was laughing, 
for the fatker bird looked a little bit ashamed, and held 
his head down, though he still clung to his straw and 
remained for a while sitting on the little shelf. He 
might have known that was no time or place to build a 
cradle. It was midwinter, and besides the shelf was 
slippery. 
