"Aren't you afraid of the old ogre who keeps so many birds prisoners in his den, and bewitches them so that they sit quite still and never even try to fly?
You want to know about birds, do you, Miss Dodo, and Nat feels grieved because I won't let him pop at our feathered neighbors that live in the orchard?
Oh, yes, my boy, I know all about it, you see; Cousin Olive has been telling tales.

Come round here where I can see you.

I can answer your question more easily than I can Dodo's.

Don't look ashamed, for it is perfectly natural that you should like to pop at birds until you learn to understand the reasons why you should not.

It was because you two youngsters have seen so little of Nature and the things that creep and crawl and fly, that I begged you from your parents for a time.
"House People are apt to grow selfish and cruel, thinking they are the only people upon the earth, unless they can sometimes visit the homes of the Beast and Bird Brotherhood, and see that these can also love and suffer and work like themselves.
"Now, my boy, before we begin to learn about the birds I will partly answer your question, and you will be able to answer it yourself before summer is over.