2 The Story of Scraggles 



"addled" Anyhow, no matter what 

 caused it, there was no denying the fact 

 that when I was born I was an ailing 

 little bird, and this made both my father 

 and mother very cross with me. I 

 could n't help being so weak, and they 

 might have been kinder to me ; but when 

 the other eggs were hatched out and my 

 brother and sister were born, nobody 

 seemed to care for me any more. Of 

 course, my mother gave me something 

 to eat when I cried for it, but the others 

 were so much stronger than I that they 

 pushed me out of the way, and succeeded 

 many a time in getting my share with- 

 out mother's knowing anything about it. 

 I was not active like the others, and 

 when they climbed up to the edge of 

 the nest and stretched out their wings 

 as if they would fly, I felt a dreadful fear 



