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." "At first I didn't know what they were, and then they seemed like some kind of Sparrows; so I went to the wonder room and looked at some of the books that you left out on the low shelf for us.

I couldn't find any picture that matched, but then I began to read about Sparrows, and when I came to Chippy Sparrow I was sure it matched; for the book said it was a clever little fellow with a jaunty red cap that came with his mate to the very door and that children make the Chippy's acquaintance and hunt in the vines on the piazza or in a bush for its nest and that the nest is very neat and made of horsehair--" Here Dodo stopped to get her breath.
"Bravo! bravo!" called the Doctor.