"Do you remember something, father?" asked Polly.
"What is it, chick?"
"Something you told me not to forget, father."
"Let me think. What was it? Yes, I remember now. We were to put out some
food for the birds. Is that it?"
"That is it. So, let us do it now."
"Very well," said father. "We will. But mother must help. She must give
us bones."
"Bones!" said Polly. "Birds don't eat bones. But dogs do. If we put out
bones, Wag-wag will get them."
"Wag-wag will not get these," said father. "I shall tie them up in the
trees. Wag-wag has not learned to climb trees."
"I saw him trying one day," said Polly. "He was after a chipmunk. The
chipmunk ran up a tree. Wag-wag put his fore paws on the trunk. He
stood up on his hind feet. He tried hard to get up that trunk. He barked
and barked."
"What did the chipmunk do?" asked father.
"The chipmunk stopped on a branch over his head. He sat there and
chattered. Grandmother said he was laughing.
"She told me he was saying, 'You can't come up, Wag-wag. You can't come
up. You don't know how to climb. I am safe!'"
"Perhaps he was saying that," said father. "Now here are the bones."
"Oh, I see," said Polly. "They have meat and fat on them. That is for
the birds. They need not try to eat bones."
"Yes, and here is grass seed. Some birds would rather have that. And
here is cracked corn, too. It is for the larger birds."
He put the grass seed into small baskets. He did the same with the corn.
"Now we are ready," he said. "You help me carry these things out. I will
come back for the stepladder."
Soon father had tied the bones to the trees. He put them on the small
branches. He tied them so that the birds could get at them easily. The
birds could perch on the branches and peck at the meat.
He said, "I will not tie them to large branches. Some cat might walk out
and catch our birds."
Then he fastened up the baskets. He fastened them tightly. They could
not swing. The birds could perch upon the edge and eat the seeds and the
corn.
"Now our party is ready," said father. "Do you suppose anything will
come to it? We will keep food here the rest of the winter."
How Peter and Polly watched the food! It seemed as if the birds would
never come. But at last they found it.
The very next morning Polly saw two birds eating there. She did not know
what they were. She ran to tell mother.
"See our birds!" she cried. "We have two. What are they, oh, what are
they?"
"You know them in the summer," said mother. "Then the father bird is
yellow and black. You call them your canaries."
"But they have changed their clothes," said Polly. "They do not look
the same. They are not so pretty."
"Many birds change their color," said mother. "Do you dress in the
winter just as you do in the summer? How those birds like the seeds!"
"There, there!" cried Polly. "See that big bird. He is after the meat. I
know him. He is a blue jay. Don't you frighten away my other birds, Mr.
Blue Jay."
It was not long before many birds found the food. Day after day the
chick-a-dees feasted. A few crows came. Once a flock of snowbirds
stopped at the party. And there were many that Peter and Polly did not
know.
One day Polly saw a bird that she liked very much. It was a robin. She
was surprised and pleased.
"I did not know that robins were here in cold weather," she said to him.
"I like you best of all. You make me think of spring. Peter likes winter
best. But I like you and spring. Please come to see me every day."
And the robin did for nearly a month. Then he came no more. Perhaps he
grew tired of waiting for spring. Perhaps he flew south to find it.
Polly never knew.