THE COMEDY OF THE GARDEN 139 
raising a strong young bird to which they were in 
no way related. 
Now the starling, though still young, has grown 
larger than either Mother or Father Chippy. Their 
own children have had to learn to feed themselves, 
as the intruders demands have been sO' loud and so 
persistent that the parent birds have had all they 
could do to satisfy the strange fledgling. Its appe- 
tite is enormous. From morning until evening it 
implores the chippies for food. Poor little things 1 
they are at their wits’ ends to account for its queer 
ways. Surely no young chippy was ever so stout 
and so emphatic as this bird. 
The funny part of it all is that the starling ap- 
pears to make the chippies do whatever 'it pleases. 
It hops about after them on the turf of the triangle, 
all the time calling to them, and reminding them 
of its appetite. Sometimes both of the chippies are 
feeding it at the same time. What can be their 
opinion, Joseph and I wonder, of this bold young 
bird that they have raised in their own nest? From 
day to day, they go on devoting themselves to the 
hearty creature, which before long will fly off in 
search of other starlings, forgetting forever its. 
chippy foster-parents. 
I think it is more a tragedy than a comedy. The 
chippies have a great burden on their shoulders 
which they were never meant tO' bear ; and the star- 
ling, if it knew the truth, would surely be ashamed 
that its mother did not build her own nest, and 
