Our Home Birds. 
CHAPTER I. 
A STRANGE BIRD. 
“ TT AS any one seen Malcolm ?” 
JL The two little sisters looked up in surprise. 
Sweet, plump, white-and-pink-looking little things 
they were, with a soft peackiness of bloom that made 
one almost feel like biting into them as if they had 
been made of candy. 
They were dear good children too ; and Miss Har- 
son, their governess, had so little trouble with them 
that, had it not been for Master Malcolm, “ Elm- 
ridge ” would have seemed almost too perfect for an 
earthly home. But this young gentleman fully sup- 
plied the exciting element, and displayed wonderful 
ingenuity in getting up surprises and alarms ; not 
that he was at all evil-disposed, but he possessed an 
active body and an inquiring mind, and for the last 
year he had been allowed too much of his own way 
for his own good or for the comfort of others. 
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