As soon as they came within hearing Rollo heard his father’s voice calling out to him,

“Rollo, what is the matter?  Have you got into any difficulty?”

“Yes, sir,” said Rollo; “we had some difficulty; and I should be sorry I did not take your advice, only then we should not have found this little bird.”

“What bird?” said they all.

By this time, they had come up near the chaises, and Jonas carefully lifted the birdsnest out of his cap, and held it so that they could all see it, while Rollo told them the story.  They all looked much pleased but Lucy seemed in delight.  She wanted to have it go in their chaise, and asked Rollo to let her hold the nest in her lap.

Rollo did not answer very directly, for he was busy looking at the bird,—­seeing him open his mouth, and wishing he had something to give him to eat.

“Father,” said he, “what shall we feed him with?  Jonas was going to catch a grasshopper, but I thought that would not be right.”

“Why not?” said uncle George.

“Because,” said Rollo, “he has as good a right to his life as the bird, has not he, father?”

“Not exactly,” said his father:  “a bird is an animal of much higher grade than a grasshopper, and is probably much more sensible of pain and pleasure, and his life is of more value; just as a man is a much higher animal than a bird.  It would be right to kill a bird to save a man’s life, even if he were only an animal; and so it would be right to destroy a grasshopper, or a worm, to save a robin.”

“But I read in a book once,” said Lucy, “that, when we tread on a worm, he feels as much pain in being killed as a giant would.”

“I do not think it is true,” said he.  “I think that there is a vast diversity among the different animals, in respect to their sensibility to pain, according to their structure, and the delicacy of their organization.  I think a crew of a fishing-vessel might catch a whole cargo of mackerel, and not cause as much pain as one of their men would suffer in having his leg bitten off by a shark.”

“Well, father,” said Rollo, “do you think we had better give him a grasshopper?”

“O no,” said Lucy; “a grasshopper would not be good to eat, he has got so many elbows sticking out.  Let us give him some blueberries.”

“O yes,” said Rollo, “that would be beautiful.”

So he slid down off of Old Trumpeter’s back, and ran to the side of the road to see if he could not find some blueberries.

He brought a few in his hand, and his father took them, saying that he would feed the bird for him.  He squeezed out pulp of the berries, and then made a chirping sound, when the bird opened his mouth, and he fed him with the soft pulp, and threw away the skins.  After giving the bird two or three berries in this way, they put him back into the nest, and gave the nest to Lucy to hold in her lap, and all the party prepared to go on.