The Burgess Bird Book for ChildrenBurgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)
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The Burgess Bird Book for Children
Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)
Birds -- Juvenile literature
It was only for an instant that Zee Zee sat still; then he was in the
air, darting, diving, whirling, going through all sorts of antics as he
caught tiny insects too small for Peter to see. Peter began to wonder
how he kept still long enough to sleep at night. And his voice was quite
as busy as his wings. “Zee, zee, zee, zee!” he would cry. But this was
only one of many notes. At times he would sing a beautiful little song
and then again it would seem as if he were trying to imitate other
members of the Warbler family.
“I do hope Zee Zee is going to stay here,” said Peter. “I just love to
watch him.”
“He'll stay fast enough,” retorted Jenny Wren. “I don't imagine he'll
stay in the Old Orchard and I hope he won't, because if he does it will
make it just that much harder for me to catch enough to feed my big
family. Probably he and Mrs. Redstart will make their home on the edge
of the Green Forest. They like it better over there, for which I am
thankful. There's Mrs Redstart now. Just notice that where Zee Zee is
bright orange-y red she is yellow, and instead of a black head she has
a gray head and her back is olive-green with a grayish tinge. She isn't
nearly as handsome as Zee Zee, but then, that's not to be expected. She
lets Zee Zee do the singing and the showing off and she does the work.
I expect she'll build that nest with almost no help at all from him. But
Zee Zee is a good father, I'll say that much for him. He'll do his share
in feeding their babies.”
Just then Peter caught sight of a bird all in yellow. He was about the
same size as Zee Zee and was flitting about among the bushes along
the old stone wall. “There's Sunshine!” cried Peter, and without being
polite enough to even bid Jenny Wren farewell, he scampered over to
where he could see the one he called Sunshine flitting about from bush
to bush.
“Oh, Sunshine!” he cried, as he came within speaking distance, “I'm ever
and ever so glad to see you back. I do hope you and Mrs. Sunshine are
going to make your home somewhere near here where I can see you every
day.”
“Hello, Peter! I am just as glad to see you as you are to see me,” cried
Sunshine the Yellow Warbler. “Yes, indeed, we certainly intend to stay
here if we can find just the right place for our nest. It is lovely to
be back here again. We've journeyed so far that we don't want to go
a bit farther if we can help it. Have you seen Sally Sly the Cowbird
around here this spring?”
Peter nodded. “Yes,” said he, “I have.”
“I'm sorry to hear it,” declared Sunshine. “She made us a lot of trouble
last year. But we fooled her.”
“How did you fool her?” asked Peter.
Sunshine paused to pick a tiny worm from a leaf. “Well,” said he, “she
found our nest just after we had finished it and before Mrs. Sunshine
had had a chance to lay an egg. Of course you know what she did.”
“I can guess,” replied Peter. “She laid one of her own eggs in your
nest.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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