26 The Story of Scr aggies 



poor, scared little thing ! " And he said 

 it so gently that I felt comforted ; and 

 so, when he came near to me again with 

 his lips full of nut, I went quite coura- 

 geously up and pecked away several 

 times. 



From that day on I never seemed to 

 be really afraid of him. Sometimes the 

 old fear came back for a little while, 

 and I scampered and hid behind the 

 desk ; and at other times, when he tried 

 to pick me up, I would instinctively run 

 from him ; and if he followed me too 

 quickly, I would spring from the desk 

 and go fluttering to the floor. But, you 

 see, that was because he did n't under- 

 stand I was a little, tiny bird, and had 

 to get used to him by degrees. When 

 he moved quietly and gently I did n't 

 get scared ; but I suppose it takes a big 



