Dickey Downy: The Autobiography of a Bird

eatures breathes such

roat that it might mak

d. We might well be li

ic hast thou provided f

bad men such music o

playground. They were said to be relatives of ours, but I do not think they were closer than sevent

ing or other, I forget what. It was a good honorable name, however, and our branch was

hich produced quantities of delicious seeds, and to these we often repaired when we wan

they complacently gathered in little groups on the backs of those huge animals. Moving slowly along munching the dewy grass, first on one side, then on the other, the cows did not seem particu

hemselves to make nests, but watched their chance to sneak in and lay their eggs, only one in a place, in the nests of other birds. For some reason their eggs always hatch a little sooner than the eggs rightfully belonging there, consequently the foster-parents, not knowing of the deception, are quite delighted with the first little one that comes out of the s

number of the larks were on the wing, others sat on the rail fence rolling out cadenzas in concert in a gush of melody from their downy throats. The men moved cautiously nearer under cover of the weeds. Raising their long clubs to their shoulders they gazed along their narrow points a moment. Without exactly knowing

day we heard the ominous booming crash, and

ned behind the bars of a wire cell for many weeks and months. Luckily he made his escape one day when

the bird trade, and some of the facts recited by him of the terrible cruelties perpetrated and the carnag