Dooryard Stories

by Clara Dillingham Pierson

  THE ROBINS' DOUBLE BROOD

  The Robins who nested on the west-side second-story window-ledge hadfour as good children as you would care to see. They were healthynestlings, brought up to mind and to eat what was given to themwithout fussing. If, for any reason there came a time when they had togo without for a while, they were good-natured then also. Theirparents had raised other broods the year before, and had learned thatit is not really kind to children to spoil them.

  "You must never forget," Mrs. Robin used to say, "that your father_is_ your father and your mother _is_ your mother. If it were not forus, you would not be here at all, and if it were not for us you wouldhave nothing to eat now that you are here. Little birds should be verythoughtful of their parents."

  When it was bedtime, and the young Robins wanted to play instead ofgoing to sleep, their father would often leave the high branch wherehe was singing his evening song and come over to talk to them. When hedid this he did not scold, but he looked so grave that each childlistened to every word. "Your mother," he would say, "has been busyall day, hunting Worms for you and flying up to the nest with them.Now she is tired, and would enjoy perching on a branch and sleepingalone, but because that would leave you cold and lonely she is willingto sleep in the nest and cover you with her soft feathers. Do youthink it is fair for you to keep her awake?"

  Then all the little Robins would hang their heads and murmur, "No,Father."

  "What are you going to do about it?" would be the next question. Andthen the little Robins never failed to raise their heads and answer,"We will be good and not say a word."

  Mrs. Robin often said that there would be more happy mothers in theworld if their children took as good care of them as her nestlingstook of her. "They have to be reminded," she said, "because they areso young, but when they have been told the right thing to do, theyalways do it." The Catbird, however, who was a very shrewd fellow,said he thought it was not so much what their father said to them thatmade them good, as what they saw him do. He was always kind to Mrs.Robin himself, you know, and spoke gently, and left the biggest Wormsfor her to eat, so his children felt sure that this was the right way.

  Mrs. Robin, too, was always polite to her husband. She spokepleasantly of him to the children, and if he had any faults she didnot talk about them. The little Robins were certain that they had thefinest father in the world, and meant to be exactly like him when theygrew up. That is, the sons did. The daughters meant to be like theirmother.

  When the little Robins' tail-feathers were about as long as firneedles, they were surprised to find a beautiful blue egg in the nestbeside them. "Is it for us to play with?" they asked their mother."Did we come out of eggs like that? Why is this here?"

  Then their wise and gentle mother stood on the ledge beside the nestand talked to them. She was a busy bird, you know, but she always saidthat it took no longer to answer children's questions than it did totell them over and over again to keep still.

  "Each of you came out of just such an egg as that," she said. "Thisone is here because I had it ready to lay, and there was no othergood place to put it. You may play with it very carefully, and be surenot to push it out of the nest, for then it would fall on the porchroof and break. You may take turns lying next to it, and before long Iwill lay another, so you can all be next to an egg at the same time."

  "What are you going to do with them?" asked the Oldest Nestling. "Whatwill become of them when we are old enough to leave the nest?"

  "That is the loveliest part of it," answered their mother. "I shallhatch these eggs, too, and then you can have baby brothers andsisters, perhaps both."

  "But who will take care of us?" asked the Youngest Nestling, and shelooked as though she wanted to cry when she spoke.

  "Don't you worry, little Robin," said her mother cheerfully. "Thereare always enough people to do the things which have to be done, ifthey will only keep sweet and not make a fuss. We will all help eachother and everything will come out beautifully. This is the first timeI ever laid the eggs for the second brood before the first brood wasout of the nest, but we shall manage. Besides," she added, "I believeyou are the first little Robins I ever knew who had a chance to helphatch eggs before being grown up. Won't that be fine?"

  Mrs. Robin looked so bright and happy as she spoke that her childrenwere sure it was going to be great fun, and one and all chirped back,"Oh, let's! We'll hatch them just as hard as we can."

  Mrs. Robin fixed them with the new egg in the middle of the nest, andwent off to help their father find dinner for them. After they hadbeen fed with about fifteen Worms, she laid the second egg. "That willbe all for this brood," she said, "and perhaps it is just as well. Toomany eggs would crowd the nest."

  Then she told them what wonderful things eggs are; how what is goingto be the young bird is at first only a tiny, soft, stringy thing,floating around inside the shell, with a ball of yellow food-stuff inthe middle of the shell and clear white stuff all around it. She toldthem, too, how this little thing which is to be a bird floats on topof the other stuff, and so is always next to the mother's breast asshe sits over it on the nest. "It is the being warm for a long timeand all the time that changes it into a bird strong enough to breakthe shell. You will remember that, won't you," said she, "and keep thetop side of the eggs warm when I am not here?"

  All the little birds were sure that they could, and very proud tothink that she would trust them so. Perhaps if she had said, "Now,don't you let me catch you leaving those eggs uncovered!" they mighthave murmured to each other, "What do we care about her old eggs? Letthem get cold!" It is a great pity, you know, when people in familiesget to talking in that way. And the worst of it is that every time oneperson speaks so, another is almost sure to answer in the same way.

  Now the Robin family were all caretakers, and when Mrs. Robin flew upwith choice Worms for her children, she gave them loving glances, andsaid, "You are such helpers! I don't know how I could get alongwithout you."

  Mr. Robin, too, remarked every now and then that it made him happy tosee how thoughtful they were of their mother. After he had said thesethings, the children always stretched themselves, so that they mightlook as big as they felt.

  With four growing children besides the two eggs in the nest, it soonbecame very much crowded. Mr. and Mrs. Robin talked it over whilehunting in the garden, where the Hired Man was spading. After theyhad fed the children whole billfuls of Worms, which they had foundwriggling there on top of the ground, Mr. Robin said: "Now, if youwill keep very still and not interrupt, I will tell you some goodnews."

  When all was quiet, he said: "I shall take you out into the greatworld to-morrow. I shall teach you to fly, to perch on branches, andto hunt for yourselves."

  "Oh goody!" cried all the little Robins together. Then they rememberedhow stubby their wings and tails still were, and wondered how theycould ever get to the ground. "Won't we tumble some?" they askeddoubtfully.

  "You may tumble some," answered their father, "but isn't it worth atumble to get out into the world? Mother will stay up here and finishhatching the eggs while I am with you, and we will stay near enoughfor her to see how fast you learn."

  You can imagine how excited the young Robins were then. They talked somuch that day that not one of them took a nap, and if their mother hadnot insisted upon it, they would not have quieted down at sunset.

  Early the next morning their parents helped them to the ground. Firstthey tumbled, fluttered, and sprawled to the porch roof below thenest. Then when they had rested, they tumbled, fluttered, and sprawledto the tops of the sweetbriar bushes underneath. There they clunguntil after breakfast, while their father hunted for them and theirmother sat on the eggs above. If they had not been taught to mind, itwould have been much harder. As it was, when their parents said,"Flutter your wings! Get ready! Fly!" they did the very best theycould at once. And that is exactly the way children must do if theywish to grow strong and help themselves.

  There never were such plump, cheerful, and obedien
t little Robins asthese. Their father had them stay in the lower branches of the firtree, within sight of the nest, and the mother watched them while hewas hunting, and called down comforting things to them. When they hadtumbles in trying to fly, she would say: "Never mind! Pick yourselvesup! Robins must tumble before they can fly. After awhile, when I havefinished hatching these eggs, you can come right up to this windowledge and see the babies."

  Then the little Robins would try harder than ever, for they werealready proud of the babies to be hatched, since they had helped keepthe eggs warm.

  Sometimes Silvertip would stroll around the corner of the house, andMrs. Robin would be so scared that she could hardly scream "Cat!" Yetshe always managed to do it in some way, and all the other Robinswould help her. Then the Lady, who was almost always writing or sewingat the sitting-room window, within sight of the nest, would drop herwork and run out the nearest door, pick up Silvertip, and carry himinside. There he would stand, with his nose pressed against the screenand his tail switching angrily.

  The Lady seemed to understand Robins. When they only cried "Trouble!"she did not move, knowing it was something she could not help, butwhen they cried, "Cat! Cat!" she always hurried out. Sometimes,though, it was the Gentleman who came, and sometimes the Little Boy.Mrs. Robin often said that she was sure she could never raise childrenso well in any other place as here, in spite of Silvertip's beingaround.

  Every day the young Robins were larger and stronger, and theirtail-feathers were better grown. When at last the joyful time camefor the two babies to chip the shell, every one of the four childrenmanaged to get up to the window ledge to see them. It was a hard trip,and they had to try and try again, and rest between times. They werenot all there at once, but oh, it was a happy, happy time!

  The mother told the babies how their big brothers and sisters hadhelped hatch them, and the father told the mother how beautifully shehad managed everything. Then the mother told him how faithfully he hadworked, and they both told the older children how proud they were ofthem. Everybody said lovely things to everybody else, and the bestpart of it was that all these lovely things were true.

  The babies were too little to talk much, but they stretched theirnecks up lovingly and sleepily to all the family, and acted as thoughthey really understood how many people had been loving and working forthem, even before they were hatched.