It was not so hard to eat as they had feared, for their slender necks enabled them to bend their heads low. Chubbins' hat fell off, a minute later, and he wondered how he was going to get it on his head again.
"Can't you stand on one foot, and use the other foot like a hand?" asked Twinkle.
"I don't know," said he.
"The storks stand on one leg," continued the girl. "I've seen 'em in pictures."
So Chubbins tried it, and found he could balance his little body on one leg very nicely. For if he toppled either way he had but to spread his wings and tail feathers and so keep himself from falling. He picked up his hat with the claws of his other foot and managed to put it on by ducking his head.
This gave the boy-lark a new idea. He broke off a piece of the cookie and held it in his claw while he ate it; and seeing his success Twinkle followed his example, and after a few attempts found she could eat very comfortably in that way.
Having had their luncheon—and it amazed Chubbins to see how very little was required to satisfy their hunger—the bird-children crept out of the basket and flew down to the twig beside their nest.
"Hello!" cried a strange voice. "Newcomers, eh?"
They were so startled that they fluttered a moment to keep from tumbling off the limb. Then Twinkle saw a furry red head sticking out of a small hollow in the trunk of the tree. The head had two round black eyes, an inquisitive nose, a wide mouth with sharp teeth and whiskers like those of a cat. It seemed as big as the moon to the shy little child-larks, until it occurred to the girl that the strange creature must be a squirrel.
"You—you scared us!" she said, timidly.