"'Oh, Susy, my Susy, gangloo! Oh, Milly, my Molly, langloo!' "Then Brother Buzzard flung his head back and chimed in,-- "'Oh, Susy, my Susy, gangloo! Oh, Milly, my Molly, langloo!' and such another racket as they made I never heard before, and have never heard since." "Why, what kind of a song was it?" inquired Sweetest Susan. "I'm sure I never heard such a song." "Well," replied Mr. Rabbit, "you are young and I am old, but you know just as much about that song as I do, and maybe more than I do, for you haven't been pestered with it as long as I have. It is a worse riddle to me than it was the day I heard it." "What did they do then?" asked Buster John. "Well," Mr. Rabbit replied, "they sat there and sang just as I told you. Brother Buzzard would stop to catch his breath and then break out,-- "'Oh, Susy, my Susy, gangloo! Oh, Milly, my Molly, langloo!' and then Brother Crow would squall out,-- "'Oh, Susy, my Susy, gangloo! Oh, Milly, my Molly, langloo!' "They sang on until they began to get hungry, and as Brother Buzzard seemed to be the biggest and fattest of the two, everybody thought he would hold out the longest. But Brother Crow was plucky, and he sang right along in spite of the emptiness in his craw. He didn't squall as loud as he did at first, but every time Brother Buzzard sang, Brother Crow would sing, too. By and by, they both began to get very weak. "At last, as luck would have it, Brother Crow saw his wife flying over, and he sang out as loud as he could:-- [Illustration: THE SINGING MATCH] "'Oh, Susy!--Go tell my children--my Susy,--to bring my dinner--gangloo!--and tell them--oh, Milly, my Molly,--to bring it quickly--langloo!' "It wasn't very long after that before all Brother Crow's family connections came flying to help him, and as soon as they found out how matters stood they brought him more victuals than he knew what to do with. Brother Buzzard held out as long as he could, but he was obliged to give up, and since that time there has been mighty little singing in the Buzzard family. "But that isn't all," remarked Mr. Rabbit, as solemnly as if he were pointing a moral. "Since that time Brother Crow, who was dressed in white, has been wearing the black suit that he won from Brother Buzzard." "Speaking of singing birds," said Mr. Thimblefinger, turning to Mrs. Meadows, "what is that song I used to hear you humming about a little bird?" "Oh, it's just a nonsense song," replied Mrs. Meadows. "It has no beginning and no ending." But the children said they wanted to hear it, anyhow, and so Mrs. Meadows sang about-- THE LITTLE BIRD. There was once a little Bird so full of Song That he sang in the Rose-Bush the whole Night long. And "Oh," said the Redbird to the Jay, "Don't you wish you could sit and sing that way?" "Mercy, no!" said the Jay; "for he sings too late; I sing well enough for to please my Mate."