fellow, and would sit winking and blinking in fear while his big
brothers quarrelled. As to Toddy and Singer, they turned out to be
sister birds, and showed quite a feminine talent for chattering; they
used to scold their badly behaving brothers in a way that made the
nest quite lively.

On the whole Mr. and Mrs. Robin did not find their family circle the
peaceable place the poet represents.

"I say," said Tip-Top one day to them, "this old nest is a dull,
mean, crowded hole, and it's quite time some of us were out of it.
Just give us lessons in flying, won't you? and let us go."

"My dear boy," said Mother Robin, "we shall teach you to fly as soon
as your wings are strong enough."

"You are a very little bird," said his father, "and ought to be good
and obedient, and wait patiently till your wing-feathers grow; and
then you can soar away to some purpose."

"Wait for my wing-feathers? Humbug!" Tip-Top would say, as he sat
balancing with his little short tail on the edge of the nest, and
looking down through the grass and clover-heads below, and up into
the blue clouds above. "Father and mother are slow old birds; they
keep a fellow back with their confounded notions. If they don't
hurry up, I'll take matters into my own claws, and be off some day
before they know it. Look at those swallows, skimming and diving
through the blue air! That's the way I want to do."

"But, dear brother, the way to learn to do that is to be good and