"Then who are you, and what is the matter?" asked the rabbit.
"Oh, I am a robin bird," was the answer, "and I am in this bush over your heads."
"Ha, no wonder we couldn't see you," said the rabbit, as he and the pussy looked up, and there, sure enough, was the nice mamma robin bird, and she was crying, as she sat in the bush.
"What is the matter?" asked the rabbit.
"I will tell you," said the robin. "You know there is a bird called the cowbird or cuckoo, and that bird is too lazy to build a nest for itself. So what do you think it does?"
"What?" asked the pussy.
"Why it goes around, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds," said the robin. "Then we birds have to hatch out the cowbird's eggs, and when her children come out they are so unpleasant that they shove our little birdies right out of the nest, and eat all the things we mamma birds bring home to our little ones."
"Ha! That is very unpleasant, to say the least," spoke the rabbit. "And are there any cowbirds in your nest now, Mrs. Robin?"
"Not yet, but there are three of the cowbird's eggs here, and they will soon hatch out."
"Why don't you toss out the cowbird's eggs?" asked the pussy. "Then you won't have to hatch them."