A BIT OF BIRD GOSSIP. 



The sun shone brightly through the 

 green leaves of the trees and crowned 

 each tiny ripple on the lake with a glisten- 

 ing diamond. A Robin Redbreast 

 hopped along the shore, picking up a few 

 pebbles, for the poor thing has to wear 

 her false teeth in her stomach, as it were, 

 having no teeth in her head with which to 

 chew her food. 



There was a rush of wings above her 

 and she dropped the grain of sand with 

 which she had thought to fill up her giz- 

 zard, cocked her smooth black head on 

 one side and watched the approach of an- 

 other bird. Was it friend or enemy ? It 

 proved to belong to the aristocratic fam- 

 ily of Thrushes real high-flyers among 

 birds who alighted on the same sandy 

 shore and advanced "with many a flirt 

 and flutter" to greet her old friend, for 

 they had been neighbors in the same 

 sunny orchard the year before 



"So glad to meet you again, Mrs. Red- 

 breast/' said the gracious Thrush in a 

 most musical voicl, "but are you not a 

 long way from the willows on the river 



bank where I last had the pleasure of see- 

 p> 



Oh, we never finished that house 

 among the willows We became dissatis- 



d W i th ,u he nei ^borhood, answered 

 Mrs Redbreast, after performing the 

 grace ul courtesy of a well-bred bird, as 

 are all Robin Redbreasts. 



"Ah, I was afraid of malaria when we 

 looked the ground over together in the 

 spring. It was too low, almost swampy, 

 Mr. Thrush and I went to a little knoll 

 abi.ut three miles away and built in the 

 loveliest, the most fragrant wild crabap- 

 pie tree you ever saw," and Mrs. Thrush 

 smoothed with shining beak a mottled 

 feather on her handsome breast. 



"But would not those lovely blossoms 

 tempt those creatures boys, I think they 

 are called to climb until they found 

 your home ?" 



"The thorns stand sentinel and the 

 thick leaves hide it well, and I wanted my 

 children to grow up strong, and swift on 

 the wing. They would never grow up 

 well feathered and beautiful amid those 



lovely willows on account of the low 

 ground," replied the Thrush. 



"It was not malaria that caused us to 

 abandon our half-built nest, but boys, 

 some black as crows and some white as 

 doves, kept coming to get materials for 

 whistles. It seems that the very tree we 

 chose had bark that slipped the easiest, 

 and sometimes a flock of three or four 

 would be perched on the limbs (they al 

 ways sit astride, so awkwardly, you 

 know), with jack-knives in their hands, 

 an d o f course we could not stay. Robin 

 wanted to come to the park it is a lovely 

 place where those fine big creatures with 



bri g ht stars on their ra y coats are P ut to 

 take care of us birds - Whv > she went 



on > " the y wil1 not let bovs stone even an 

 English Sparrow, but I think that is al 



together too particular. There comes a 



P art y of the llttle cockneys now, as a 

 handful of winged brown balls came flut- 

 tering through the air close to the heads 

 of the larger birds who could easily have 



P ut them to . W ^%, W? b ^ ^ 

 However they ducked their heads and 



scampered into the weeds, leaving the 

 smooth shore to the new-comers, who 



dipped and splashed in the shallow edge 

 J^ lake as . f th . d it mi htil 



Just see the horrid Httle thi wash _ 



ing J themselves in water, but they never 

 ca * gei - clean> Why, my Robin, who is 

 a ver s venturesome fellow and sometimes 

 follows the bojllevards almost into the 

 heart of the c j t>> Jays t h at he has seen 

 them in the d i rty c j ty streets washing 

 themselves in the dust like common barn- 

 yard fowls." 



"Don't let's look at them," exclaimed 

 Mrs. Thrush. "They are doing it just 

 because it looks respectable, and they 

 k now t h at we wash in water;" and the 

 two bi rc js spread their wings and swept 

 disdainfully away from the neighborhood 

 of the Sparrows. 



"And where did you finally build, Mrs. 

 Redbreast ?" asked the other as they set- 

 tied gracefully on the shore a half a mile 

 away. 



"Well, Robin, as I said, wanted very 

 much to live in the park. He is so fond 

 of company, but I told him there were too 



us 



