“I must hurry back to my eggs!” said Mrs. Robin. “My babies will begin to hatch next week!”
“I expect that my baby partridges will all be out of the shell before next Thursday!” said Mrs. Partridge. “I do hope that the weather stays good! Last year the weather was so cold and wet that it was very disagreeable!”
“How many eggs are you covering, Mrs. Partridge?” asked Mrs. Robin.
“Only twelve, this year!”
“Twelve! Mercy me! Why! Mrs. Partridge! I cannot see how you will be able to look after so many children!”
“I do not think twelve is such a large family! Last year I had fourteen, and every one of them grew to be as big as their father,” said Mrs. Partridge.
“The largest family I ever had was five, and one of them kept falling out of the nest!” said Mrs. Robin.
“I always take my children out of the nest as soon as they are out of the shell! It is so much more sanitary!” said Mrs. Partridge.
“My children simply have to stay in their nest until they are ready to fly! It is such a job to feed and care for them! They never seem to get enough to eat!”
Just then they heard Mister Robert Robin calling. He was standing beside the nest and saying, “Tut! Tut! Tut!—Tut! Tut! Tut!”