As the Doctor paused a moment, Rap whistled an imitation of the song, throwing the sound far from him after a fashion that the Chat has, so that it seemed to come from the trees, completely deceiving Dodo.  “Uncle, uncle!” she whispered, creeping softly up to him, “one of the White-throats must have stayed until now, for that bird says ’cleverly! cleverly! cleverly!’”

Rap was delighted at the success of his imitation, and Nat and Dodo tried to whistle with him, Dodo being the most successful.

“Oh! oh! what happens to whistling girls?” said Nat, who was a little provoked at her success.

“Nothing at all,” said Olive, “when they only whistle bird-songs.  I’ve whistled to birds ever since I could pucker up my lips, and father taught me how—­didn’t you, father dear?  Only you used to say, ’Never whistle in public places.’”

“I believe I did; and Rap shall teach you, Dodo, so you can call a bird close to you by imitating its song.”

The White-throated Sparrow

Length about six and a half inches.

Striped on the back with bay, black, and gray; two white crossbars on each wing, the edge of which is yellow; two white stripes on the black crown, and a yellow spot before the eye.

Gray below, more slate-colored on the breast, with a pure white throat, which is bounded by little black streaks.

A Summer Citizen of the Northern States and beyond.  Spends the winter in the Middle and Southern States.

Belongs to the guild of Weed Warriors, and is a bright, cheerful, useful bird.

THE CHIPPING SPARROW

(THE CHIPPY.  THE SOCIABLE BIRD)

“I know a Chippy now, when I see it, before you tell us anything about it!” said Dodo gleefully.  “There were three or four dear little ones yesterday on the grass, near the dining-room window.  They had velvety brown caps on, and said ‘chip, chip, chip’ as they hopped along, and as they didn’t seem afraid of me I threw out some bread-crumbs and they picked them up.  Then I knew, to begin with, that they must be seed-eating birds.”

“How did you know that?” asked Nat.  “Bread-crumbs aren’t seeds!”

[Illustration:  Chipping Sparrow.]

“No, but bread is made of ground-up wheat-seed!  Don’t you remember Olive said so last week when she told us about all the grains?”

“Yes,” said Nat reluctantly.

“Birds that won’t eat seeds won’t eat bread-crumbs either,” continued Dodo earnestly; “’cause I tried Wood Thrushes with bread-crumbs last week and they simply turned up their noses at them.”

Rap and Nat laughed at the idea of birds turning up their noses, but the Doctor said: 

“Very good indeed, Miss Dodo, you are learning to use your eyes and your reason at the same time.  Tell us some more about your Chippies.”