1 1 2 More Tales of the Birds 



and yet there was always food for us. Thistles, 

 charlock, all sorts of tall plants grew there, on 

 which we perched and hung, and pecked the 

 delicious seeds. We could all twitter by that 

 time, though we did not know how to sing 

 properly ; and the noise we made as we all rose 

 together from a meal in the fresh sea air made 

 all our hearts cheerful. And here, moving along 

 the coast, and always finding food, we passed 

 the winter. In the bitterest cold the seeds were 

 always there ; and at night we crept into hollows 

 under shelter of the cliffs and slept soundly. 

 Very few of us died, and those were nearly all 

 old birds who were not strong enough to bear 

 the force of the fierce winds that now and then 

 swept along the coast and hurled the spray into 

 the hollows where we roosted." 



"Ah," said the Canary, "think what a 

 privilege it is to be safe here in your own house, 

 with food and water given you gratis, no rough 

 winds, and a warm room in winter, that makes 

 you sing, sing ! " And off he went into one of his 

 gay, meaningless songs, and the cobbler looked 

 .fierce and red in the face (he had been to the 



