The Burgess Bird Book for ChildrenBurgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)
General
The Burgess Bird Book for Children
Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)
Birds -- Juvenile literature
Perhaps it was because Peter was thinking of him that almost the first
voice he heard when he reached the Old Orchard was that of Chebec,
repeating his own name over and over as if he loved the sound of it. It
didn't take Peter long to find him. He was sitting out on the up of one
of the upper branches of an apple-tree where he could watch for flies
and other winged insects. He looked so much like Mr. Phoebe, save that
he was smaller, that any one would have know they were cousins. “Chebec!
Chebec! Chebec!” he repeated over and over, and with every note jerked
his tail. Now and then he would dart out into the air and snap up
something so small that Peter, looking up from the ground, couldn't see
it at all.
“Hello, Chebec!” cried Peter. “I'm glad to see you back again. Are you
going to build in the Old Orchard this year?”
“Of course I am,” replied Chebec promptly. “Mrs. Chebec and I have built
here for the last two or three years, and we wouldn't think of going
anywhere else. Mrs. Chebec is looking for a place now. I suppose I ought
to be helping her, but I learned a long time ago, Peter Rabbit, that in
matters of this kind it is just as well not to have any opinion at all.
When Mrs. Chebec has picked out just the place she wants, I'll help her
build the nest. It certainly is good to be back here in the Old Orchard
and planning a home once more. We've made a terribly long journey, and I
for one am glad it's over.”
“I just saw your cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Phoebe, and they already have a
nest and eggs,” said Peter.
“The Phoebes are a funny lot,” replied Chebec. “They are the only
members of the family that can stand cold weather. What pleasure they
get out of it I don't understand. They are queer anyway, for they never
build their nests in trees as the rest of us do.”
“Are you the smallest in the family?” asked Peter, for it had suddenly
struck him that Chebec was a very little fellow indeed.
Chebec nodded. “I'm the smallest,” said he. “That's why they call me
Least Flycatcher. I may be least in size, but I can tell you one thing,
Peter Rabbit, and that is that I can catch just as many bugs and flies
as any of them.” Suiting action to the word, he darted out into the air.
His little bill snapped and with a quick turn he was back on his former
perch, jerking his tail and uttering his sharp little cry of, “Chebec!
Chebec! Chebec!” until Peter began to wonder which he was the most fond
of, catching flies, or the sound of his own voice.
Presently they both heard Mrs. Chebec calling from somewhere in the
middle of the Old Orchard. “Excuse me, Peter,” said Chebec, “I must go
at once. Mrs. Chebec says she has found just the place for our nest,
and now we've got a busy time ahead of us. We are very particular how we
build a nest.”
“Do you start it with mud the way Welcome Robin and your cousins, the
Phoebes, do?” asked Peter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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