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
Pewee nodded. “Yes,” said he. “It has been unusually warm this spring,
so I hurried a little and came up with my cousins, Scrapper and Cresty.
That is something I don't often do.”
“If you please,” Peter inquired politely, “why do folks call you Wood
Pewee?”
Pewee chuckled happily. “It must be,” said he, “because I am so very
fond of the Green Forest. It is so quiet and restful that I love
it. Mrs. Pewee and I are very retiring. We do not like too many near
neighbors.”
“You won't mind if I come to see you once in a while, will you?” asked
Peter as he prepared to start on again for the dear Old Briar-patch.
“Come as often as you like,” replied Pewee. “The oftener the better.”
Back in the Old Briar-patch Peter thought over all he had learned about
the Flycatcher family, and as he recalled how they were forever catching
all sorts of flying insects it suddenly struck him that they must be
very useful little people in helping Old Mother Nature take care of her
trees and other growing things which insects so dearly love to destroy.
But most of all Peter thought about that queer request of Cresty's, and
a dozen times that day he found himself peeping under old logs in the
hope of finding a cast-off coat of Mr. Black Snake. It was such a funny
thing for Cresty to ask for that Peter's curiosity would allow him no
peace, and the next morning he was up in the Old Orchard before jolly
Mr. Sun had kicked his bedclothes off.
Jenny Wren was as good as her word. While she flitted and hopped about
this way and that way in that fussy way of hers, getting her breakfast,
she talked. Jenny couldn't keep her tongue still if she wanted to.
“Did you find any old clothes of the Snake family?” she demanded. Then
as Peter shook his head her tongue ran on without waiting for him to
reply. “Cresty and his wife always insist upon having a piece of Snake
skin in their nest,” said she. “Why they want it, goodness knows! But
they do want it and never can seem to settle down to housekeeping unless
they have it. Perhaps they think it will scare robbers away. As for me,
I should have a cold chill every time I got into my nest if I had to sit
on anything like that. I have to admit that Cresty and his wife are a
handsome couple, and they certainly have good sense in choosing a house,
more sense than any other member of their family to my way of thinking.
But Snake skins! Ugh!”
“By the way, where does Cresty build?” asked Peter.
“In a hole in a tree, like the rest of us sensible people,” retorted
Jenny Wren promptly.
Peter looked quite as surprised as he felt. “Does Cresty make the hole?”
he asked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account