As soon as the nest was ready, pretty little Mrs. Bird laid four lovely blue eggs in it.  She knew, and Mr. Bird knew, that there were four baby birds asleep in the eggs, and so they were happier than ever before.

But now Mrs. Bird had to sit on the nest all the day long, to keep the eggs warm.  Of course, Mr. Bird had to feed her.  He would fly all over the park, finding good things to eat, and carry them back to drop into Mrs. Bird’s mouth.  When she was no longer hungry, Mr. Bird would hop to a branch near by, and sing to her.

You may think that Mrs. Bird grew tired of sitting there on the nest day after day.  You may think Mr. Bird became tired of feeding Mrs. Bird, and of singing to her, day after day.  But neither one seemed to grow tired at all.  They just watched and waited, as the days went by.

After a while the little baby birds began to wake up, and one day Mrs. Bird heard a queer scratching sound that made her very glad.  The babies were beginning to break open the shell!  Peck!  Peck!  Peck!  Soon a little head came out of the shell.  Crack!  Crack!  Crack! and there was a little bird in the nest for Mr. and Mrs. Bird to love and take care of.

By the time the first pieces of shell had been thrown from the nest, another little bird had broken through.  Then came another, and still one more, until there were four baby birds in the nest, all crying as loud as they could, “Peep!  Peep!  Peep! please give us something to eat.”

Then both Mr. and Mrs. Bird had to fly away to seek their own breakfast, and to bring some to the children.  You never saw such hungry babies!  They kept their parents busy all the day long, bringing them food.  They weren’t very polite to each other, either, those baby birds.  They would crowd and push, and almost send each other out of the nest, trying to get every morsel, instead of each waiting his own turn to be fed.  But then, they were only birds and did not know any better.

Day after day, they were fed by their parents.  Night after night, they were kept warm under Mrs. Bird’s wings.  No wonder those baby birds soon grew big and strong.  They were ever so much prettier when they grew big enough to wear feathers.

Soon, one little bird felt so strong, that he said he wanted to fly away, too, and see what the ground and other trees were like.

“Not to-day,” Mrs. Bird told him.  “Wait until your wings are a wee bit stronger, and then I’ll teach you to fly.”

When both Mr. and Mrs. Bird had flown away, this same little bird said to his brothers:  “It seems quite easy to fly; all you need to do is to flap your wings.  I think I’ll try it alone.”

“You had better not!” the others told him.

“Yes, I will,” the little bird said.

He hopped to the edge of the nest, and began to flap his wings.  He did not quite dare to raise his feet, though, for he felt rather timid when he looked down and saw how far away the ground seemed to be.  But he flapped his wings so vigorously, pretending to fly, that he lost his balance and fell.  He was not hurt, for the grass was tall and soft, but he was greatly frightened, and cried out for his mother.