the little home they would make in the old elm tree. Mrs. Bird would
listen for a while to his song and then they would both fly away to find
the twigs and straws with which to build the nest. Very hard indeed the
little birds worked, for each straw had to be carefully woven, in and
out and out and in, so that the nest should be quite firm and round.

As soon as the nest was ready, pretty little Mrs. Bird laid four lovely
blue eggs in it. She knew, and Mr. Bird knew, that there were four baby
birds asleep in the eggs, and so they were happier than ever before.

But now Mrs. Bird had to sit on the nest all the day long, to keep the
eggs warm. Of course, Mr. Bird had to feed her. He would fly all over
the park, finding good things to eat, and carry them back to drop into
Mrs. Bird's mouth. When she was no longer hungry, Mr. Bird would hop to
a branch near by, and sing to her.

You may think that Mrs. Bird grew tired of sitting there on the nest day
after day. You may think Mr. Bird became tired of feeding Mrs. Bird, and
of singing to her, day after day. But neither one seemed to grow tired
at all. They just watched and waited, as the days went by.

After a while the little baby birds began to wake up, and one day Mrs.
Bird heard a queer scratching sound that made her very glad. The babies
were beginning to break open the shell! Peck! Peck! Peck! Soon a little
head came out of the shell. Crack! Crack! Crack! and there was a little
bird in the nest for Mr. and Mrs. Bird to love and take care of.

By the time the first pieces of shell had been thrown from the nest,
another little bird had broken through. Then came another, and still one
more, until there were four baby birds in the nest, all crying as loud