"'And what do you think of me now?'
"From down on the ground Robin Redbreast had been listening. 'Oh, that was wonderful, wonderful!' he trilled.
"'Listen to that dear little robin,' said one of the people. 'I must get him some bread crumbs.'
"When the bread crumbs were scattered over the ground, Robin Redbreast invited the cardinal bird down again thinking they were for him! But the beautiful, proud bird would not come down, and the people were saying, 'After all there is nothing quite so nice as a dear little robin.'"
THE WINTER WRENS' DEW-DROP BATHS
"The winter wren is really with us during the summer too," said daddy. "But he is too shy to be near us. We can only hear him sing sometimes. When winter comes, though, he goes to people for protection and picks up the crumbs they give him.
"Yesterday he was sitting on a snow-berry bush with a tiny companion. The snow-berry bushes are full and leafy, and in the spring and summer are covered with very tiny pink blossoms. In the autumn and winter they are covered with little berries which look as if they had been made out of snow.
"'Oh, how I dread the winter!' said the tiny wren. 'Just imagine how dreadful it would be if no one put any bread crumbs out for us, or no dog left us some of his dinner on a back porch.'
"'Now,' said Mr. Brown Wren, 'you mustn't think of such sad thoughts. You always do! Someone will look after us. And maybe we'll find a few spiders now and then in the cracks, and then well have a regular feast.'
"The next day they were back again on the snow-berry bush, and the day was much warmer. Now the wrens love to bathe above all things! Even in the winter they will go through a little sheet of ice and get into the cold, cold water underneath. For they must get their baths! And in the spring, when the tiny wrens are brought forth from their mossy nests, the first lesson they have is of bathing in some nearby brook.