220 Bird -Lore 



The screen is removed from the Robin's nest showing the three little children, the 

 doll Robin in the nest and the father and mother Robin by the nest. The father and 

 mother Robin fly away to get food. When either of them returns to the nest with imag- 

 inary food all the little Robins stretch up for it. (The mother Robin comes three times 

 and the father Robin twice.) A cat is seen wandering back and forth; when both birds 

 are away from the nest it sneaks over and seizes the doll Robin and carries it off into the 

 bushes, after having worried it. The old Robins see the cat worrying it and fly frantically 

 to the nest. The mother Robin quiets the little ones and the father Robin chases the cat. 



As the father Robin and the cat disappear in the bushes, a little boy and girl run 

 across the stage and point at the bird's nest in the tree. The boy climbs the tree and 

 takes out the doll Robin and gives it to the little girl who fondles it and then runs and 

 puts it into the cage. (As the little girl comes running, the attendant, who is behind the 

 screen that hides the cage, takes the doll, removes the screen, and exposes the child 

 Robin, which got into the cage while the boy was climbing the tree.) The frightened 

 bird tries to get out and the boy pulls grass and throws into the cage, which frightens 

 it more than ever. The girl goes in search of worms, wanders off into the woods, and 

 gets lost. The cat sneaks over, puts his paw into the cage and tries to catch the bird. 

 The boy drives the cat away and it disappears in the woods. 



Five or six boys and girls rush over to the cage and question the boy, in pantomime. 

 He shakes his head, and they hurry out into the woods to look for the little girl. (They 

 put their hands up as if shouting, and run back and forth, until one designated searcher 

 has crossed the stage three times. Then another searcher discovers the girl sleeping 

 behind a bush. Motioning to the rest of the searchers, they embrace the girl and carry 

 her home.) As they near the cage where the boy is still watching the bird, which is 

 drooping^now, the boy runs out to meet them and he and the girl hurry to the cage. 

 The girl stands, gazing thoughtfully at the drooping bird for a moment. She slowly 

 lifts the cage and takes out the bird. She nestles up to it for a moment and the bird 

 flutters, straightens up and slowly flies away to its nest. The searchers then lead the little 

 boy and girl away. 



The father and mother bird now begin to coax the little Robins out of the nest. They 

 give a call-note and fly back and forth. Finally the little ones move, half tumbling and 

 half crawling out of the nest. Then the father and mother birds begin to pick bugs and 

 insects off the shrubs, followed closely by the little Robins who occasionally fall down 

 and who always open their mouths wide when offered something to eat. The old birds 

 pick at the roots of the shrubs, too. The shrubs begin to grow. They rise slowly until 

 they are standing up. Soon the Robins begin to fly farther away and finally coax the 

 little ones, who are flying better by this time, out into the woods. 



The screens are now arranged to represent a house, and a rocking-chair is placed in 

 front of it. An old man (a boy with white hair and beard, wearing an overcoat and lean- 

 ing on a cane as he limps along) comes out and sits on the chair. A Bluebird appears 

 and flits back and forth while the rest of the children in the room sing the song "Blue- 

 bird." The man watches for the bird and smiles happily every time that it appears. 

 The Bluebird then flies into the woods and the stage is cleared for Part Three. 



PART THREE 



[As the different sets of birds finish their part of the program they retire to the 

 woods which are set at the back of the stage and fly quietly back and forth during the 

 conclusion of Part Two.] 



The principal, or whoever presents the bird-bath, unveils the bath, which has been 

 standing in one corner covered by the flag. As he does so all of the birds from the woods 

 flutter in and fly around the bath. The person who presents the bath makes a short, 



