48 STORIES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



at all seasons, when most of the Song Birds have 

 been forced away by hunger ; so it is true that 

 we are one of those that the House Child calls 

 4 the cheerful birds,' one of the few who, nesting 

 nearby, linger to give some scraps of summer 

 melody to cheerless days. 



" My grandparents were an old-fashioned, stay- 

 at-home couple. They lived down in the village, 

 in the Parson's garden. This garden has always 

 been thought a very comfortable home for our 

 family, and especially so when the old man and 

 his daughter lived there. 



"When his neighbours said, 'Why not set traps 

 or spread nets to catch the birds that eat your 

 fruit,' he answered, 'These birds work with me 

 in the garden, keeping away the slug and worm, 

 while their sweet music gladdens my heart ; why 

 should they not have wages? Let them take 

 their tithes.'" 



" Were you with the flock that sat all huddled 

 together in the pines, the day in March, when the 

 last snow fell, and the sun melted it away in an 

 hour ? " asked Tommy-Anne. 



" Yes, that was our flock ; we were all strong, 

 newly moulted males, some old, some the young 

 of last year. For several months we had been 

 living many miles west of here, in the great ever- 



