. Bird legend and life . ish a home, though she was proudand arrogant, she finally put away her pride to the extent ofasking the other birds to give her some instruction in the their generosity they agreed and assembled on the ap-pointed day to assist her. The materials having been collected, the blackbird,taking up a twig, said: Place that stick there, and laidit in place. Ah! said the conceited magpie, I knew thatbefore. Each of the other birds there assembled followedwith useful suggestions, demonstrating every step, but allthrough the lesson the heedless magpie chattered: Ah! Iknew
. Bird legend and life . ish a home, though she was proudand arrogant, she finally put away her pride to the extent ofasking the other birds to give her some instruction in the their generosity they agreed and assembled on the ap-pointed day to assist her. The materials having been collected, the blackbird,taking up a twig, said: Place that stick there, and laidit in place. Ah! said the conceited magpie, I knew thatbefore. Each of the other birds there assembled followedwith useful suggestions, demonstrating every step, but allthrough the lesson the heedless magpie chattered: Ah! Iknew that before. Ah! I knew that before. At length, when the nest was but half completed, andthe patience of her instructors entirely exhausted, they saidwith one voice: Well, Mistress Mag, since you know allabout it you may build your nest yourself. From that day on, no bird of the wood would allow thefoolish magpie to see her building her own nest, even, andso it is that magpies, ever since, have built ramshackle nests. 72. Photograph by Edward Warren THE MAGPIE, THE SCANDAL OF THE GROVE A pied bird perches on a branch that bends with hisweight as he balances himself with his beautiful tail. MAGPIE LIFE IN almost any of the valleys among our western moun-tains one is likely to find these beautiful and enter-taining birds in their fullest perfection. As the chancevisitor sits rapt in admiration of the distant peaks andpasses with the marvelous lights and shadows upon them,suddenly his dream is disturbed by a living streak of blackand white passing across the foreground of the picture, asa pied bird perches on a nearby branch that bends with hisweight as he balances himself with the beautiful tail thatserved him as a rudder in his sail across the sky. With everymotion of the branch it now tips gracefully up and down,allowing countless iridescent hues to chase each other overits glossy surface. His broad patches of perfect color are glorified by thesunlight playing upon them, the im
Size: 1368px × 1827px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidbirdlege, booksubjectbirds
