Bird Stories

he had done well. There is no doubt about that; for he had grown from a one-celled little beginning of life into a creature so big that he filled the whole of his world crammed

t he could not budge. That is, he could not budge

ut of them if we go about it the right way, and make the best of what power we have. That is just what Larie did. He had power to move his head enough to tap, with his beak, agai

ing, all squeezed in so tight. But he kept at it again and again and again. And then at last he cr

very hard at first, and so very hopeless, and then en

his eggshell world. It was comfortable to have them now. They dried his down and made it fluffy. There was plenty of room for its fluffiness. He could stretch his legs, too, and could wiggle his wings against his sides. This felt good. And he could move his he

all this. A roof had settled down over his world while he napped. It was white as sea foam, and soft and

mouth. But nothing went into it. His brother and sister were being fed. He had never had any food in his mouth in all the days of his life. To be sure, his egg-world was filled with nourishment that he had taken into his body and had used in growing; but he had never done anything with his beak except to knock with the knob at

call for breakfast, and that time Larie got his share. After that, there were calls for luncheon and for dinne

h dwell, for a time, all babies, whether they have two legs, like you and Larie, or four, like a pig with a curly tail, or six, l

third world began. So it is not surprising that, as soon as their legs were strong enough, Larie and his

up the three youngsters may have felt when they began to walk, Father and Mother Gull made no mistake about the matter, but fed them breakfasts, dinners, and su

about nimbly enough. For instance, when he made a mistake and asked some gull, that was

with their foam-white bodies and their pearl-gray capes, and they were all bringing food; so how could he know who were and who were not his Father and Mother Gull? Well, he must learn to

he came. Then, oh, then, Larie was a baby, and hid near a tuft of grass or between two stones, tucking his head out of sight, and keeping quite still as

ry-Bird Treaty Act prohibit throughout the United States the killing of gulls at any time. That means that the la

n the District of Columbia, which helped take care of l

can more than help make matters right. There has to be, besides, s

gull-laws and gull-policemen, people came to the nests and took their eggs, which are larger than hens' eggs and good to eat; and people came, too, and killed these birds for their feathers. Then it was that the beautiful stiff wing-feathers, whi

t his nest and went out to walk, he stepped upon a shelf of reddish rock, and the whole wall from which his shelf stuck out was reddish rock, too. Beyond, the rock

en, like a tree in a quiet forest. But never think, for all of that, that Larie's spruce was not good to look upon. There is something splendid about a tree which, though bending to the will of the mighty winds that work their force upon it, grows sturdy and strong in sp

at had lived i

ould be seen, that dark, rugged tree, which had battled with winds from its seedling days and grown victoriously, with th

s, of the kind that had been gathered for Larie's nest and had turned yellowish in drying. Under the carpet, in underground l

o kept the signal lights in order was no other than Larie's policeman himself. A useful life he

ss, and big shelfy rocks of red and green and gray, and rugged dark-green tre

ming came, he slipped off into the water; and after that it was his, whenever he wished-his to

reat day for flying came, he rose against the breeze, and his wings took him

s like an old gull; but the feathers of his body were not white, and he did

, that winter when he went south with the others, to a place where the

of his fifth world, which blew over the cold sea, and across the island with a carpet of green and rocks of red and green and gray,-for he

nce, they looked as thick as snowflakes in the air; and when they screamed together, the di

floated beside him in the sea another gull, at whom he did not scream, but to wh

e sea another gull, to w

ng them far on their way. For on the ships were men who threw away food they could not use, and the gulls gathered in flocks to scramble and fight for this

lls, when they sorted the contents of their

in high glee at certain harbors where garbage was left; for

make the water foul and the air impure. Thus it is that Nature gives to a scavenger the duty of service to all living creatures; and the fr

e gull style. They would fly above the water near the shore, and when they were twenty or thirty feet high, would plunge down head-first. Then they would

ld fly high into the air a hundr

one that Larie and his

Easily, with wings fluttering slightly, Larie would follow the clam, floating gracefully, though quickly, down to where it had cracked upon the rocks. The morsel in it

lue of the airy sky there was an ocean, and in that ocean there was an island, and on that island there was a nest, and in that nest there was an egg

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od Storie