pt jumping around and trying to see who was
talking to her. But Mrs. Partridge's feathers were so nearly the color
of the leaves, that Mrs. Robin might not have seen her at all, had she
not moved a little.

"Why! Good afternoon, Mrs. Partridge! I could hear you talking to me
but I could not see you! So Mister Robin has been visiting with you! He
surely does like to visit!"

"So does Major Partridge! He will talk all day if he can coax some one
to listen to him. He is over there now visiting with Bob White. What
those two can find to talk so much about is a mystery to me! It is real
funny to listen to them! They both brag about the big things they have
done or are going to do.

"That little puff ball of a Bob White was saying the other day that he
was almost ready to whip Mister Horned Owl. You would think to hear him
talk that he was larger than Mister Owl!"

"Mister Robin is very apt to boast about himself, when he is talking to
strangers!" said Mrs. Robin.

"Major Partridge is the funniest thing!" said Mrs. Partridge. "He is
desperately afraid of snakes, but when Bob White was telling about his
going to whip Mister Owl, Major Partridge threw his chest out, and
swelled himself up, and said in a very gruff voice, 'To-morrow, I
think, if the weather is good, I shall drive all of the snakes out of
our woods!'"

"That _must_ have sounded funny!" said Mrs. Robin. "But I wish that all
the snakes were driven from the woods, they are such ugly-looking
things!"

"They are so hideous!" said Mrs. Partridge.

"I must hurry back to my eggs!" said Mrs. Robin. "My babies will begin
to hatch next week!"

"I expect that my baby partridges will all be out of the shell before
next Thursday!" said Mrs. Partridge. "I do hope that the weather stays
good! Last year the weather was so cold and wet that it was very
disagreeable!"

"How many eggs are you covering, Mrs. Partridge?" asked Mrs. Robin.

"Only twelve, this year!"

"Twelve! Mercy me! Why! Mrs. Partridge! I cannot see how you will be
able to look after so many children!"

"I do not think twelve is such a large family! Last year I had
fourteen, and every one of them grew to be as big as their father," said
Mrs. Partridge.

"The largest family I ever had was five, and one of _them_ kept falling
out of the nest!" said Mrs. Robin.

"I always take my children out of the nest as soon as they are out of
the shell! It is so much more sanitary!" said Mrs. Partridge.

"My