418 CITIZEN BIRD 



" Dear, dear ! Think of it, think of it ! " warbled 

 the Bluebird. 



'' Zeay I zeay ! " screamed the Catbird, flying up. 

 "N-e-w-sI N-e-w-s! The House People are to stay 

 at our farm all winter ! The man who owns this farm, 

 the big girl, and the little girl and boy — and the 

 mother and father bird they belong to — they are all 

 down in the orchard, talking about it now — how they 

 are going to something they call 'school,' over in the 

 village, and liow that l)oy who hops along on one leg 

 with a stick under his wing is going with them." 



" Did they say anything about tlie Bird Brother- 

 hood?" 



'' No, but I heard them say that when the snow falls 

 they are going up to those horrid dark Owl woods 

 to see the foxes and little fur beasts — 'Four-footed 

 Americans' our House JNIan calls them." 



" He gave me a better name than that," said the 

 Barn Swallow, "one day when he was telling the chil- 

 dren about the Brotherhood, over in the old barn. He 

 looked straight at me and said a whole tree full of nice 

 things." 



"What did he call you? What did he say about the 

 Brotherhood ? " asked all the others, crowding around 

 Barney. 



"He said that I swept the sky free of evil insects, 

 that I was patriotic in coming back to my birthplace 

 to nest, and that I worked to pay my rent and taxes, 

 and — " 



" And what ? " cried the others in excitement. 



" He called me ' Citizen Bird ' ! He said all well- 

 behaved birds, who have their own nests, and belong 



