as they could, "Peep! Peep! Peep! please give us something to eat."

Then both Mr. and Mrs. Bird had to fly away to seek their own breakfast,
and to bring some to the children. You never saw such hungry babies!
They kept their parents busy all the day long, bringing them food. They
weren't very polite to each other, either, those baby birds. They would
crowd and push, and almost send each other out of the nest, trying to
get every morsel, instead of each waiting his own turn to be fed. But
then, they were only birds and did not know any better.

Day after day, they were fed by their parents. Night after night, they
were kept warm under Mrs. Bird's wings. No wonder those baby birds soon
grew big and strong. They were ever so much prettier when they grew big
enough to wear feathers.

Soon, one little bird felt so strong, that he said he wanted to fly
away, too, and see what the ground and other trees were like.

"Not to-day," Mrs. Bird told him. "Wait until your wings are a wee bit
stronger, and then I'll teach you to fly."

When both Mr. and Mrs. Bird had flown away, this same little bird said
to his brothers: "It seems quite easy to fly; all you need to do is to
flap your wings. I think I'll try it alone."

"You had better not!" the others told him.

"Yes, I will," the little bird said.

He hopped to the edge of the nest, and began to flap his wings. He did