40 



Bird Day Book 



from falling and find out how easily they would bear him up, as 

 many a fearful baby bird has done. This foolish fellow, however, 

 would not try at all and fell plump into the grass below. His 

 anxious parents flew about, both scolding and coaxing, but it was 

 useless ; their obstinate nestling refused to move. 'No, I do not want 

 to fly,' he said. 'I do not want to be up high for fear I may fall 

 again. It is safe and comfortable in this soft grass. I mean to 

 stay here. My two legs are better than wings.' 



"So, since they could do nothing more, the other birds left him 

 and spent the summer day singing in the trees, trying their young 

 wings, or seeking for food in the pleasant woodland. 



"The little brown bird hopped about, thinking how safe he was 

 and how sensible to stay upon the solid earth. He was rather lonely, 

 for the ground-folk were too busy to pay any attention to him, and 

 his kindred of the air were high above him. There was plenty to 

 eat and drink, however. He found many insects in the grass and 

 even a few ripe berries, while a tiny rill was not far away. Once 

 he was terribly frightened. There was a sudden sharp yelping close 

 at hand, a sound of something running nearer and nearer, and then 

 a boy and a dog raced past him in pursuit of a frightened rabbit. 

 The little brown bird half raised his untried wings, and a fleeting 

 thought of the safety of far treetops came to him, but he hid himself 

 under a thick bush until all was quiet again. Another time he left 

 the shelter of the wood to wander in a sunny meadow. He was 

 quite happy there until he happened to see a dark shape soaring 

 above and remembered what his mother had said in the nest about 

 hawks. Trembling with fear, he crept under the edge of a big rock 

 and kept as still as the rock itself until the hovering shadow was 

 gone. When evening came, he did not know what to do. He felt 

 pretty lonesome, too, but he found a thicket of close-growing bushes 

 and snuggled as far in among them as he could to keep out of the 

 way of hungry owls or other enemies. 



"I cannot tell you all his adventures, but the summer passed day 

 by day, while the little brown bird learned to live as the other ground 

 people did. 



"When autumn came, the other birds flew away to warmer cli- 

 mates, while he, who had no power of airy flight, stayed to learn 

 the dangers and hardships of winter. It was difficult to keep alive 

 then, but at last spring came, and summer followed — ^then other 

 springs and other summers. Sometimes when he heard the sweet 



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