Mrs. Bird was too far away to hear him, but a little girl did.  She picked him up very gently, and ran to show him to her father.

“Look at this cunning little bird which I have found!  May I keep it for mine?” she asked him.

“No,” said her father.  “See, it is only a baby bird, which has fallen from its nest, and is crying for its mother.  Show me where you found it; perhaps I can reach the nest if we can discover it among the leaves.”

The little girl pointed out the tree to her father.  He placed a ladder against it, and, climbing up, was able to drop the little bird into its home.

In a few days Mr. and Mrs. Bird were ready to teach all their babies to fly.

“Come on,” they said, “spread your wings, jump into the air, and fly just a little way, to that other limb of the tree.”

Three of the little birds obeyed at once, and reached the resting place in safety.  But the fourth little bird was afraid to try, because he had fallen before.

“Don’t be a coward,” urged his father and mother.  “You fell before because your wings were not strong enough to bear you up, but now you will have no trouble.”

The little bird wouldn’t budge.

The parent birds knew it was time for him to learn, so they pushed the foolish little fellow out of the nest, and watched him spread his wings, and flutter to the ground.  There he found more courage, and after a while he flew up to join his brothers on the tree.

“I was sitting at my window,” Mother told Johnnie Jones, “and saw it all happen.  Of course I can’t understand the language of birds, and I am not sure I have repeated exactly what the parent birds said to the babies, or what the babies said to each other, but only what they seemed to say.  Anyway, everything happened as I have told you.”

“Soon the babies could fly nearly as well and as far as the old birds, and after that the little nest was left quite empty, rocked by the wind in the old tree top.”

* * * * *

The Coming of Little Brother

Almost all of the children who attended the kindergarten where Johnnie Jones spent his mornings, had a baby brother or sister at home.  They spoke of “their babies” so often and enjoyed so much making presents to take them, that Johnnie Jones wished for a baby at his house, and talked to Mother about it.

One night, Mother said she had a secret to tell him.  He was glad, for he liked to have secrets with Mother, who told him a great many, because he could keep them so well.

“It is the most beautiful secret in all the world,” Mother said.  “Spring-time is coming very fast, and next month, when the trees and the flowers wake up because winter is over and gone, a dear little baby is coming to live with us.”

“Oh!  Mother dear, I am so glad!” said Johnnie Jones.  “But why does the baby wait so long?  I want him this very day.”