“Don’t be discouraged, my boy; you do not need a big book—­a little one will do for the present.  What you need is patience, a pair of keen eyes, and a good memory.  With these and a little help from Olive, Rap, and your old uncle, you can learn to know a hundred kinds of every-day birds—­those that can be found easily, and have either the sweetest songs, the gayest plumage, or the most interesting habits.  Some we shall find here in the lane and swamp meadow, or by the river.  Others have made their home in my orchard for years.  And I am going to put in the book more than a hundred beautiful pictures for you and Dodo, drawn so naturally that you can tell every one of the birds by them, and that will make it easier for you to understand what you read.

“For some of the water birds we must go up to the lake or in the summer make a trip over to the seashore.  How do you like that?  Yes, you too, Rap.  By and by, when you know these hundred birds by name and by sight, you will be so far along on the road into Birdland that you can choose your own way, and branch off right and left on whatever path seems most attractive to you; but then you will need big books, and have to learn long hard Latin names.”

“What birds will you begin with, please, Doctor Roy,” said Rap, “the singers or the cannibals?”

“The singers, because they will interest Dodo and Nat the most easily, as they do you.  Then we will talk about the birds that only croak and call; then the cannibal birds; next those that coo, and those that scratch for a living.  Then we must leave dry land and go close to the water to find the birds that wade; and finally, we must go to the lake or sea itself for the birds that swim and dive.”

“Why, here’s Quick!” cried Nat, as the little fox-terrier came leaping down the lane, tracking them, nose to the ground.  “How did you get out of the barn, sir?”

“I suspect that Dodo has discovered that we are missing and is looking for us,” said the Doctor.  “There is the breakfast bell.  Do you realize, my lads, that we have been out two hours?”

“I often come out early in the morning,” said Rap, “so it doesn’t seem strange to me.”

“I’m starving, Uncle Roy,” said Nat, “though I am only beginning to feel it.”

“Think how much worse you would have felt if you had not eaten some bread and milk before you started.”

“Yes, indeed,” said Nat.  “Do many sicknesses come from not eating enough?” “Not so many as come from eating too much!” laughed the Doctor.  “Won’t you come up to breakfast with us, Rap?  There is always room at my table, you know, for children who love their Bird Brothers.”

“I can’t,” said Rap regretfully; “you see it’s Thursday and I have to mind clothes!”

There was a merry breakfast party that morning at Orchard Farm; Nat had so much to tell, and the Doctor said he felt twenty years younger after his walk with the boys.  A letter had also arrived which made Nat and Dodo very happy; it was from their mother, who said:  “We are delighted to hear that the Doctor is going to tell you bird stories this summer.  Be sure to ask Olive to tell you all she knows about the flowers too.  When we come home this autumn, perhaps your uncle will ask us to the Farm for a visit, and then we shall see your friend Rap.”