SMALL BIRD TALK 5 11 



to assert its inherent right to live, the battle was 

 in vain, for its moss and lichen-covered arms and 

 fingers were sapless and dry, destitute of leaf or 

 bud. But all around the fresh green leaves were 

 bursting forth, and underneath the dead supplicat- 

 ing branches of the little tree, the lily pads were 

 pushing their round heads above water or covering 

 the shallows with a carpet of the light red and 

 pale greens of their unfolding leaves. 



Towering trees were all around whose sturdy 

 fat trunks proved them to be winners in life's race 

 and subjects for the saw-mill to consider. Yet the 

 little alder's dead branches were chosen as a fit 

 location for 



THE THRONE OF THE KING ! 



No degenerate offspring of an effete monarch 

 and a worn-out family; but a sturdy self-reliant 

 king, a democratic king, who modestly conceals his 

 bright crown of ruby jewels beneath a gray quaker 

 headdress and only displays the insignia of royalty 

 when an enemy is in sight. 



When the 



TIMID RUFFED GROUSE 



lies close upon her nest at the foot of two pine 

 trees, trusting to her dead-leaf-colored plumage 

 for concealment, and while all the other denizens 

 of the woods are trembling with fear, then -the 

 monarch proudly displays the royal colors. 



