Redruff 3<, 



Ttien ali went cautiously up the stream, and 

 on a sandy bank, well screened by brambles, 

 they lay for all that afternoon, and learned how 

 pleasant it was to feel the cool, powdery dust 

 running between their hot little toes. With 

 their strong bent for copying, they lay on their 

 sides like their mother and scratched with their 

 tiny feet and flopped with their wings, though 

 they had no wings to flop with, only a little tag 

 among the down on each side, to show where 

 the wings would come. That night she took 

 them to a dry thicket near by, and there among 

 the crisp, dead leaves that would prevent an 

 enemy's silent approach on foot, and under the 

 interlacing briers that kept off all foes of the 

 air, she cradled them in their feather-shingled 

 nursery and rejoiced in the fulness of a mother's 

 joy over the wee cuddling things that peeped 

 in their sleep and snuggled so trustfully against 

 her warm body, 



n 



The third day the chicks were much stronger 

 on their feet. They no longer had to go around 

 an acorn ; they could even scramble over pine- 

 cones, and on the little tags that marked the 

 places for their wings, were now to be seen 

 blue rows of fat blood-quills. 



