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
“What?” screamed Jenny and Mr. Wren together. Then without even saying
good-by to Peter, they flew in a great rage to see if he had told them
the truth. Presently he heard them scolding as fast as their tongues
could go, and this is very fast indeed.
“Much good that will do them,” chuckled Peter. “They will have to find
a new house this year. All the sharp tongues in the world couldn't budge
Bully the English sparrow. My, my, my, my, just hear that racket! I
think I'll go over and see what is going on.”
So Peter hopped to a place where he could get a good view of Jenny
Wren's old home and still not be too far from the safety of the old
stone wall. Jenny Wren's old home had been in a hole in one of the old
apple-trees. Looking over to it, Peter could see Mrs. Bully sitting
in the little round doorway and quite filling it. She was shrieking
excitedly. Hopping and flitting from twig to twig close by were Jenny
and Mr. Wren, their tails pointing almost straight up to the sky, and
scolding as fast as they could make their tongues go. Flying savagely at
one and then at the other, and almost drowning their voices with his own
harsh cries, was Bully himself. He was perhaps one fourth larger than
Mr. Wren, although he looked half again as big. But for the fact that
his new spring suit was very dirty, due to his fondness for taking dust
baths and the fact that he cares nothing about his personal appearance
and takes no care of himself, he would have been a fairly good-looking
fellow. His back was more or less of an ashy color with black and
chestnut stripes. His wings were brown with a white bar on each. His
throat and breast were black, and below that he was of a dirty white.
The sides of his throat were white and the back of his neck chestnut.
By ruffling up his feathers and raising his wings slightly as he hopped
about, he managed to make himself appear much bigger than he really was.
He looked like a regular little fighting savage. The noise had brought
all the other birds in the Old Orchard to see what was going on, and
every one of them was screaming and urging Jenny and Mr. Wren to stand
up for their rights. Not one of them had a good word for Bully and his
wife. It certainly was a disgraceful neighborhood squabble.
Bully the English Sparrow is a born fighter. He never is happier than
when he is in the midst of a fight or a fuss of some kind. The fact that
all his neighbors were against him didn't bother Bully in the least.
Jenny and Mr. Wren are no cowards, but the two together were no match
for Bully. In fact, Bully did not hesitate to fly fiercely at any of the
onlookers who came near enough, not even when they were twice his own
size. They could have driven him from the Old Orchard had they set out
to, but just by his boldness and appearance he made them afraid to try.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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