So Mrs. Robin went to Black-bug Swamp and found plenty of black bugs, and on the way back she stopped near Mrs. Partridge’s nest to get one or two brown bugs for dessert.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Robin!” said Mrs. Partridge, and Mrs. Robin jumped and looked all around, but she did not see Mrs. Partridge.
“Your husband and I have just had a nice long visit!” continued Mrs. Partridge, and Mrs. Robin kept jumping around and trying to see who was talking to her. But Mrs. Partridge’s feathers were so nearly the color of the leaves, that Mrs. Robin might not have seen her at all, had she not moved a little.
“Why! Good afternoon, Mrs. Partridge! I could hear you talking to me but I could not see you! So Mister Robin has been visiting with you! He surely does like to visit!”
“So does Major Partridge! He will talk all day if he can coax some one to listen to him. He is over there now visiting with Bob White. What those two can find to talk so much about is a mystery to me! It is real funny to listen to them! They both brag about the big things they have done or are going to do.
“That little puff ball of a Bob White was saying the other day that he was almost ready to whip Mister Horned Owl. You would think to hear him talk that he was larger than Mister Owl!”
“Mister Robin is very apt to boast about himself, when he is talking to strangers!” said Mrs. Robin.
“Major Partridge is the funniest thing!” said Mrs. Partridge. “He is desperately afraid of snakes, but when Bob White was telling about his going to whip Mister Owl, Major Partridge threw his chest out, and swelled himself up, and said in a very gruff voice, ‘To-morrow, I think, if the weather is good, I shall drive all of the snakes out of our woods!’”
“That must have sounded funny!” said Mrs. Robin. “But I wish that all the snakes were driven from the woods, they are such ugly-looking things!”
“They are so hideous!” said Mrs. Partridge.