Produced by David Starner, Greg Bergquist, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: "THE LITTLE RUGGLESES BORE IT BRAVELY" (_page_ 36)] THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL BY KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN WITH ILLUSTRATIONS [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge COPYRIGHT, 1886, BY KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1914 AND 1916, BY KATE DOUGLAS RIGGS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM EIGHT HUNDREDTH THOUSAND The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. TO THE THREE DEAREST CHILDREN IN THE WORLD BERTHA, LUCY, AND HORATIO CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE "_The little Ruggleses bore it bravely_" (page 36) _Frontispiece_ _Vignette_ _Title_ I. A LITTLE SNOW BIRD 1 "_She is a little Christmas Child_" 7 II. DROOPING WINGS 10 III. THE BIRDS' NEST 15 _Carol at her window_ 21 IV. "BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER" 22 _The "Window School"_ 31 V. SOME OTHER BIRDS ARE TAUGHT TO FLY 32 "_I want ter see how yer goin' ter behave_" 39 VI. "WHEN THE PIE WAS OPENED, } 48 THE BIRDS BEGAN TO SING!" } "_The Ruggleses never forgot it_" 55 "_I beat the hull lot o' yer!_" 62 VII. THE BIRDLING FLIES AWAY 63 "_My Ain Countree_" 65 "_I thought of the Star in the East_" 69 THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL I A LITTLE SNOW BIRD It was very early Christmas morning, and in the stillness of the dawn, with the soft snow falling on the house-tops, a little child was born in the Bird household. They had intended to name the baby Lucy, if it were a girl; but they had not expected her on Christmas morning, and a real Christmas baby was not to be lightly named--the whole family agreed in that.