Tales of the birdsFowler, W. Warde (William Warde)
General
Tales of the birds
Fowler, W. Warde (William Warde)
Birds; Birds -- Juvenile literature
“Shame!” said he indignantly; “but there must be more of them in the
garden.” And bidding the others follow, he flew down into the
well-planted grounds. They here found themselves nearer to human
habitations than they had ever been in their lives before; but hunger
made them bold. “To right and left,” said Cocktail, “and look for
holly-bushes.” His own search was a failure; he found several bushes,
but not a berry was left. He felt very angry when he thought of the rich
store of berries inside that cosy room, where no starving birds could
get at them. There was the well-fed lady enjoying her tea by the fire,
and looking with admiration at the berries (_looking_ indeed, thought
Cocktail, and not eating them!), and here were four poor birds starving
outside in the cold for want of them.
But now a “chak” was heard from another part of the garden. Making his
way there, he found that Jack was the lucky discoverer of a bush that
still boasted a fair store of berries; up came the others too, and now
they had a good feast on the berries as long as the light lasted: then,
at Cocktail’s order, they dropped down to roost in a thick shrubbery
some distance from the house, where the evergreens had as yet kept the
snow from lying very deep upon the ground. In a few minutes their four
heads were under their tired wings, and they were fast asleep.
Next day they were awake early, but their breakfast on the remaining
berries was rudely interrupted by the gardener, who came to sweep the
snow from the walks; and after lingering in a tree for a few minutes,
Cocktail gave an angry “chak,” and led the way again southwards. To have
his breakfast broken into in this way was more than he was used to, and
for several days he had had no morning bath. And more than that, he was
tired and stiff with the night’s hard frost; so his temper was not so
good as usual, and he flew high and quick, hardly looking at the hedges
as he passed over them. Many a time the others would fain have stopped
to pick a stray berry, or try for grains on a stubble-field where they
could see partridges cowering below them; but on went Cocktail without
heeding, and on they had to go too.
About midday they came to the foot of another long range of hills, which
they had seen in the distance for some time. The north-east wind was
blowing hard, and had driven them some way to the westwards; and they
had turned still farther west to avoid a large town,[3] where engines
were puffing, and trains rushing continually in and out. Under these
hills they found a large park, with thorn-bushes planted here and there,
on which a few berries were still showing red through the white rime
that clung to them; and here Cocktail at last halted, and allowed his
famished followers a little rest. But he was more severe and imperious
than on the day before, and strictly forbade them to go out of his
sight.
“We shall go on again before long,” he said; “we must get further south
yet, so be ready to start at any moment.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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