“The Woodpeckers (all but one) have two front and two hind toes; these help them grasp the tree bark firmly as they rest, while they have strong-cutting, chisel-like beaks, which they also use for tapping or drumming their rolling love-songs. [Illustration: CHICKADEE] “While the insect-eating song-birds have more or less slender bills and four toes, three in front and one behind, for perching crosswise on small branches, the seed-eating songsters, such as Sparrows, have similar feet, but short, stout, cone-shaped bills for cracking seeds and small nuts. “By this you can see that in spite of the fact that all birds wear feathers, and have wings, a tail, beak, and a pair of legs, they may still be very different from each other. “A Turkey Gobbler doesn’t look much like a Robin, nor a Goose like a Swallow, yet they are all four birds! They all four bring forth their young from eggs; but the little Turkeys and Goslings are covered with feathers when they peep out of the shell and are able to walk, while the young Robins and Swallows are at first blind, naked, and helpless; so here again you can see that there is something special to be learned about every bird that flies or swims.” “Chickadee-dee-dee! Can’t you tell them something about me?” said this dear little bird, flitting about one of the open windows and clinging upside down to the blind slats that were bare of paint, like either a Woodpecker, or, as Tommy Todd remarked, “the man in the circus.” “The little bird peeping in the window and calling his name reminds me of a pretty poem about him,” said Gray Lady. “I will repeat it to you and write it on the board so that you can copy it in your books, and then some of you may like to learn it to surprise Miss Wilde on another rainy Friday.” A LITTLE MINISTER I know a little minister who has a big degree; Just like a long-tailed kite he flies his D.D.D.D.D. His pulpit is old-fashioned, though made out of growing pine; His great-grandfather preached in it, in days of Auld lang syne. Sometimes this little minister forgets his parson’s airs: I saw him turn a somersault right on the pulpit stairs; And once, in his old meeting-house, he flew into the steeple, And rang a merry chime of bells, to call the feathered people. He has a tiny helpmeet, too, who wears a gown and cap, And is so very wide-awake, she seldom takes a nap. She preaches, also, sermonettes, with headlets one, two, three, In singing monosyllables beginning each with D. But O her little minister, she does almost adore: I’ve heard her call her sweet D.D. full twenty times or more. And his pet polysyllable—why, did you hear it never? He calls her Phe-be B, so dear, I’d listen on forever.