Tales of the birdsFowler, W. Warde (William Warde)
General
Tales of the birds
Fowler, W. Warde (William Warde)
Birds; Birds -- Juvenile literature
Flip shuddered; he recognized his kindred, but their eyes were closed,
their heads hung down, and their feathers lay loose and heavy: there was
no telling one from another, especially at his distance from the table.
Still, he had no doubt in his mind that Pipi was among them.
“Willow-wrens, if you like,” said the Professor; “willow-warblers, I
like to call them; _Phylloscopus trochilus_ is the scientific name, and
you will find all about them in that book of mine I gave you, at page
432. A redstart too, I see, poor fellow; so much the worse for
somebody’s garden or field this next May or June. But now, where’s the
diary; let us have them all down--wind, what was it, south-east by
south?”
“That’s it, sir,” said the lighthouse-man; and they sat down together at
the table, and began to turn the birds over one by one. Flip watched
till they came to the last, in the dim expectation of recognizing Pipi;
but it was impossible, for the dead eyes showed no traces of their
luckless owner’s identity. It was a mournful scene, and Flip was just
about to take flight, when he heard Peter’s voice again.
“There be another on ’em down stairs, Professor,” he said; “he were only
stunned like, and my missus said as she’d keep un a bit, and see if he’d
come to life again.”
Flip’s feathers stood on end with excitement.
“Missus,” called out Peter, putting his head out of the door, “what ha’
you done with that bit of a wren as I give you this marnin’?”
“Putten him in the old canary cage, and given him some crumbs and milk,”
said the wife from below; “but he won’t touch neither of ’em, and he’s
as bad as can be. Ask the Professor gentleman if he’ll come down and see
him.”
Thereupon the Professor and Peter went down stairs, and Flip could hear
no more. He felt sick at heart. Even if this was Pipi, it was clear
enough he was going to die. If he got nothing better than crumbs and
milk, how in the name of all that’s feathered was he going to live?
“What stupid creatures these men-folks are!” thought Flip; and perhaps
he was not far wrong. But he did not know what a professor meant, and he
was not aware that the genial old gentleman from the distant University
knew almost as much about the food of willow-warblers as he did himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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