“Oh, yes! they not only take care of them and feed them for weeks, but sometimes they even let the greedy young cuckoos push their own children out of the nest.”

“That’s a hard case,” said Arthur.  “Is there any American bird that acts like the cuckoo?”

[Illustration:  The Cuckoo]

“Oh, yes!” said Uncle Oscar.  “There is a little bird called the ‘cow-bunting,’ about as large as a canary-bird:  she, too, makes other birds hatch her young and take care of them.”

“I don’t like such lazy behavior.  Did you ever hear the note of the cuckoo?” said Arthur.

“Oh, yes!” replied Uncle Oscar.  “I have heard it in England; and there, too, I have heard the skylark and the nightingale, neither of which birds we have in America.  But we have the mocking-bird, one of the most wonderful of song-birds.”

“I wonder if the cuckoo would not live in America,” said Arthur.  “I should like to get one and try it.  I would take good care of it.”

“It would not thrive in this climate, Arthur.”

UNCLE OSCAR.

[Illustration:  Work and Sing!]

WORK AND SING!

    You must work, and I must sing,
      That’s the way the birdies do: 
    See the workers on the wing;
      See the idle singers too.

    Yet not wholly idle these,
      They the toilers do not wrong;
    For the weary heart they ease
      With the rapture of their song.

    If our work of life to cheer
      We no music had, no flowers,
    Life would hardly seem so dear,
      Longer then would drag the hours.

    Like the birdies let us be;
      Let us not the singers chide;
    There’s a use in all we see: 
      Work and sing! the world is wide.

EMILY CARTER.

[Illustration:  One Year Old]

ONE YEAR OLD.

Hold her up, mamma, and let us all have a look at her.  Is she not a dear little thing?

She is not a bit afraid, but only puzzled at being stared at by so many people.  She does not know what to make of it.

She clutches at her mother’s chin, as much as to say, “Tell me what this means.”

It means, baby, that you are one year old.  This is your birthday, and we have come to call on you.

[Illustration:  Nurse, Baby, & Cat]

But here is Jane, the nurse.  Has she come to take you away from us?  We are not ready to part with you.

You want to go with her?  Well, that is too bad!  You like her better than you do me.  I must see what she does that makes you so fond of her.

She takes you to the barn, and shows you the horse and the cow.  Then she lets you look out of the barn-window.  There you spy the kitten.

The kitten sees you, and jumps up on the basket, and looks in your face.  You put out your little hand, and try to reach her.

Jane has the pig and the chickens to show you yet.  But I cannot stay any longer.  I must leave you playing with the kitten.