90 
OUR BIRDS IN WINTER. 
reptile, and taking a club, soon killed it. I 
flew off, feeling indignant at the man’s un- 
grateful treatment of me, and if I see another 
in such a predicament, I will think twice before 
I awaken him.” 
Here the speaker ruffled his feathers in 
indignation, and most of his auditors moved 
about on their perches nervously, and appar- 
ently sharing with his disgust. Old Mr. 
Ohick-a-dee, after a pause, during which the 
birds had resumed their composure, and were 
some trimming their feathers, others paying 
little attentions to their neighbors, or twitter- 
ing little compliments that only good-disposi- 
tioned and amiable birds know any thing about? 
addressed them as follows : — 
I have been paying attention to your 
narratives, and think that, although you both 
have a little cause for complaint, still it seems 
to me that the action of the men, in both cases, 
was not the result of ingratitude in the strict- 
est sense, since neither of them knew all your 
motives, but acted hastily and without reflec- 
tion. Man’s ingratitude to birds as a class 
