How they did cry for food! Somehow baby Orioles cry more than other bird
babies. They seem to want to eat all the time.

And how Father Oriole did work to keep them fed, whistling every once in a
while to make things pleasant for his family! I wonder if they appreciated
all the things he and Mother Oriole did for them. And the days passed and
the little birds grew fatter on the bugs and the beetles which their father
brought, just as fat as the little boys or girls on their oatmeal and bread
and milk, which their fathers work hard to earn for them.

The little Orioles were certainly noisy little birds, and when they cried
sometimes the children saw funny little heads and beaks poking out of the
nest.

Then more days passed and Father and Mother Oriole taught them to fly, just
as Father and Mother Green had taught little Hepzebiah to walk. Marmaduke
remembered how his Mother had held Hepzebiah and Father stood a little way
off. Then Hepzebiah had started. She was a little frightened at first but
she made the journey. It was only a few steps and her father caught her
before she fell. She tried this often and soon she could take a great many
steps.

And that was something like the way Father and Mother Oriole taught their
children to fly. The parent birds would fly to a branch a little way off.
Then they would call the little birds. And one by one they would fly to the
branch. Their wings were weak at first like Hepzebiah's little feet. But
soon they grew strong and before many weeks had gone they could fly as fast
as the old birds. And before the summer was over they were as big as their
parents. You see birds have shorter lives than real people. They do not
live so many years. So they have to grow up quickly or they wouldn't have