“Thank you,” replied Melody. “I'm glad you like to hear me sing for there is nothing I like to do better. It is the one way in which I can express my feelings. I love all the Great World and I just have to tell it so. I do not mean to boast when I say that all the Thrush family have good voices.”
“But you have the best of all,” cried Peter.
Melody shook his brown head. “I wouldn't say that,” said he modestly. “I think the song of my cousin Hermit, is even more beautiful than mine. And then there is my other cousin, Veery. His song is wonderful, I think.”
But just then Peter's curiosity was greater than his interest in songs. “Have you built your nest yet?” he asked.
Melody nodded. “It is in a little tree not far from here,” said he, “and Mrs. Wood Thrush is sitting on five eggs this blessed minute. Isn't that perfectly lovely?”
It was Peter's turn to nod. “What is your nest built of?” he inquired.
“Rootlets and tiny twigs and weed stalks and leaves and mud,” replied Melody.
“Mud!” exclaimed Peter. “Why, that's what Welcome Robin uses in his nest.”
“Well, Welcome Robin is my own cousin, so I don't know as there's anything so surprising in that,” retorted Melody.
“Oh,” said Peter. “I had forgotten that he is a member of the Thrush family.”