“Not at all,” said Katherine. “We waited until you’d made a reputation for cleverness and been taken into a society. I think we were considerateness itself.”
Roberta was gazing sadly at Mary. “Why did you try all those queer ones?” she asked. “You knew I wasn’t sure of them.”
“I had to, my dear. She asked us for the rare names on our lists. I was the third one she came to, and the others had floundered around and told about birds I’d never heard of. I didn’t really know which of mine were rare, because I’d never seen any of them but once, you know, and I was afraid I should strike something that was a good deal commoner than a robin, and then it would be all up with me. So I boldly read off these three, because I was sure they were rare. You should have seen her face when I got to the pink-headed one,” said Mary, beginning suddenly to appreciate the humor of the situation. “Did you invent them?”
“Only the names,” said Betty, “and the stories about finding them. I thought of nestle, and Katherine made up the others. Aren’t they lovely names, Roberta?”
“Yes,” said Roberta, “but think of the fix Mary is in.”
Mary smiled serenely. “Don’t worry, Roberta,” she said. “The names were so lovely and the shelcuff’s neck and the note of the nestle and all, and I am honestly so near-sighted, that I don’t think Miss Carter will have the heart to condition me. But girls, where did you get the descriptions? Professor Lawrence particularly wanted to know.”
Betty looked at Katherine and the two burst into peals of laughter. “Mary Brooks, you invented most of those yourself,” explained Katherine, when she could speak. “We just showed you the first bird we happened to see and told you its new name and you’d say, ‘Why it has a green crest and yellow wings!’ or ‘How funny its neck is! It must have a pouch.’ All we had to do was to encourage you a little.”
“And suppress you a little when you put colors like pink and blue into the same bird,” continued Betty, “so Roberta wouldn’t get too suspicious.”
“Then those birds were just common, ordinary ones that I’d seen before?”
“Exactly. The nestle was a blue jay, and the euthuma was a sparrow. We couldn’t see what the shelcuff was ourselves, the tree was so tall.