WE had to fasten a box for our mail on the gate-post, because the postman is afraid of our dog, and will not come in the yard. Last summer two little blue birds made a nest in that box. The mamma bird laid five tiny eggs and sat on them, letting the postman drop the letters on her. Every morning and evening the newsboy put in the paper. The papa bird brought worms, and mamma, sister and I used to watch him, and, strange, he would never go into the box while we looked on, and as we walked away he would dart down as quick as a flash.
By-and-by there were five little birds, and we thought that surely the letters and papers would kill them, but they grew nicely, and their mouths were always wide open.
One day I put some fine crumbs into the nest, thinking they would like them, and the mother bird flew around, acting as though she was angry. At last she began to take them all out, one by one. This was not the food these birds needed yet.
For some weeks we watched them grow.