THE BROWN BIRDS

 One fair spring morning two bonny brown birds sat on a lilac bush twittering and chirping:—

 

"Chee, chee, cheeree. Where shall we make our little nest?"

 

"Make it here in my branches," said the maple¹ tree that grew by the garden gate. "Many a nest have I held in my arms. Make it here."

 

The maple tree was strong and green and beautiful. Its wide-spreading branches reached from the garden path far over the road beyond the gate; and they rocked like a cradle in the wind that fair spring morning. Oh! it was the very place to make a nest, and as soon as the brown birds had looked at it they decided² to build there.

 

"Chee, chee, cheeree," they sang in the sunshine.

 

 

"We'll make our nest in the maple tree,

Oh! we are so happy, chee, chee, cheeree."

They twittered and chirped³ and trilled and sang till a cow, that was eating her breakfast of hay in the barnyard near by, put her head over the fence to ask the news. When the brown birds told her what they were going to do she did not wonder at their singing.

 

"If you need any hay," said she, "fly over the fence and help yourselves to some of mine. There is plenty here for you and me; and I have heard my friend the speckled hen say that there is nothing better for a nest than hay."

 

"Very true," said the maple tree. "Every bird must suit himself, but I agree with the speckled hen, and I have held enough nests to know something about them."

 

The brown birds looked at each other wisely.

 

"Chee, chee, cheeree," they sang again.

 

 

"We'll weave our little nest of hay;

And we'll begin this very day

To make it in the maple tree.

Oh! we are so happy, chee, chee, cheeree,"

sang the birds as they hurried into the barnyard.

 

They could take only a little hay at a time in their bills, but they chose the nicest, longest pieces they could find, and were just ready to fly away with them when a horse came galloping⁴ up.

 

"This is no way to carry hay," he cried. "Tell me where you live, and I will bring it to your barn in a wagon⁵."

 

Then the two birds laughed till they dropped the hay from their bills; the cow laughed till her bell tinkled⁶; the maple tree laughed till its leaves shook; and the horse laughed, too, though he did not know what the joke was, till the cow told him.

 

"Well, well," he said to the birds, "if I cannot haul your hay for you, perhaps I may give you some hairs from my mane for your nest. I am sure I can't see what use they can be, but a bird in the pasture begged for some, and she said she was building a nest in the hedge."

 

"Chee, chee, cheeree. 'T is nice to line

A nest of hay with horsehair fine.

We're building in the maple tree,

And we are so happy, chee, chee, cheeree,"

chirped the birds.

 

By this time everybody in the barnyard knew that two brown birds were making a nest in the maple tree by the garden gate; and everybody wanted to help them.

 

"Take this with my love," called the pigeon; and she dropped a feather from her soft white breast, as she flew from the pigeon house.

 

"We, too, have feathers to spare," cried the hen and the goose.

 

"Every nest is the better for a bit of down," said the duck. "And I can give that."

 

The two birds were pleased with everything.

 

"Chee, chee, chee, chee, cheeree," sang they,

"With feathers soft, and hair, and hay,

How fine our little nest will be

Up in the dear old maple tree.

Oh! we are so happy, chee, chee, cheeree."

They were busy all the fair spring morning carrying the gifts to the maple tree; and as they flew back and forth⁷ a little girl spied them, and called to her mother:—

 

"Oh, mother, come and see these little birds with feathers and hay in their bills. What are they doing?"

 

 

"I know," said her mother. "They are building a nest in our maple tree. Would you like to give them a piece of cloth like your new pink dress for their nest?"

 

"Oh, yes, yes," said the child; and she ran and got the cloth from the scrap⁸ bag, and hung it on the lilac bush. It had not been there longer than a minute when down flew a brown bird to get it.

 

"Chee, chee," he sang, "what do you think?

I've found a lovely bit of pink

To trim our nest up in the tree.

Oh! I am so happy, chee, chee, cheeree."

"Just what we needed," said the other brown bird; and she made haste to weave it into the nest, for there was no time to waste.

 

Over and under, in and out, twisting and pulling, they wove the cloth and the hay together, with a lining⁹ of hair and downy feathers.

 

 

The nest was finished by the time the little girl's papa came home to dinner, and he held her up in his arms to see it.

 

"I'm glad I gave them a piece like my new dress," she said, when she spied the bit of pink woven into the nest.

 

"Chee, chee, so are we," sang the brown birds in the tree top.

 

"We're glad we made our nest of hay.

We're glad we finished it to-day.

We're glad we built in the maple tree.

Oh! we are so happy, chee, chee, cheeree."

 

1 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 chirped   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 )

参考例句：

• So chirped fiber gratings have broad reflection bandwidth. 所以chirped光纤光栅具有宽的反射带宽，在反射带宽内具有渐变的群时延等其它类型的光纤光栅所不具备的特点。
• The crickets chirped faster and louder. 蟋蟀叫得更欢了。

4 galloping   

adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The horse started galloping the moment I gave it a good dig. 我猛戳了马一下，它就奔驰起来了。
• Japan is galloping ahead in the race to develop new technology. 日本在发展新技术的竞争中进展迅速，日新月异。

5 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

6 tinkled   

（使）发出丁当声，（使）发铃铃声( tinkle的过去式和过去分词 )； 叮当响着发出，铃铃响着报出

参考例句：

• The sheep's bell tinkled through the hills. 羊的铃铛叮当叮当地响彻整个山区。
• A piano tinkled gently in the background. 背景音是悠扬的钢琴声。

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

9 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。