238 THE COMICAL CBOW BABY. 



almost })ainful interest, till some one took pity 

 on him and fed him. As he saw food approach- 

 ing his voice ran up several tones higher, in 

 laughable imitation of a human baby cry. This 

 note is of course the promise of a "caw," but 

 the a is flattened to the sound of a in bar, which 

 makes it a ludicrous caricature of our own first 

 utterances. 



But sometimes mamma did not heed the cries, 

 and sailed calmly by, alighting a few rails be- 

 yond her hungry infant, though he held out his 

 fluttering wings in the bird-baby's begging way, 

 exactly as does a young warbler who would n't 

 be a mouthful for him. Then the little fellow 

 would start up on unsteady legs, to walk the rail 

 to reach her, balancing himseK with outspread 

 wings, and when he got beside her, put his 

 beak to hers in a coaxing way that I don't see 

 how any mother could resist. But this wise 

 dame had evidently hardened her heart. She 

 probably wanted him to learn to help himself, 

 for she dropped to the ground, and went wading 

 about in the wet grass and mud, and at length 

 flew off without giving him a morsel. Then the 

 disappointed youngster cuddled up to a brother 

 crow baby, and both lifted up their voices and 

 lamented the emptiness of the cold, cold world. 



Perhaps the most comical performance of this 

 clumsy baby was his way of alighting on a fence 



