y for a minute, to ask questions. They were not pleased with the
answer they got, for the messenger had said that all of them were to
take a long, long journey that would last for days, and the little
King-wrens had actually to go as far as the Gulf of Mexico. Besides,
they were to fly by night, to avoid their enemies, the Hawks, and the
weather at this season was sure to be stormy. So the Chicadees said it
was all nonsense, and went off, singing and chasing one another through
the woods, led by Tomtit singing a new song in which he made fun of the
travellers.

Tom Tom Tiddy-Mouse!
Hid away in our house,
Hid his brother in the cellar,
Wasn't he a silly feller?

But their cousins were quite serious. They picked out wise leaders and
formed themselves into bands. They learned that they must follow their
leader, they must twitter as they flew in the darkness, so as to let
those behind know where\he leaders were; they must follow the great
rivers southward; they must wait for a full moon before starting, and
never travel by day.

The noisy, rollicking Chicadees continued to make fun of their cousins
as they saw them now gathering in the woods along the river; and at
length, when the moon was big, bright, and full, the cousins arose to
the call of the leaders and all flew away in the gloom. The Chicadees
said that all the cousins were crazy, made some good jokes about the
Gulf of Mexico, and then dashed away on their favourite game of tag and
tumble through the woods, which, however, did seem rather quiet now, and
bare of leaves; while the weather, too, was certainly turning
uncomfortably cool.

At length the frost and snow really did come, and the Chicadees were in
a bad way. Indeed, they were frightened out of their wits, and dashed
hither and thither, seeking in vain for some one to set them aright on
the way to the warm land. They flew wildly about the woods, till they
were truly crazy. I suppose there was not a squirrel-hole or a hollow
log in the neighbourhood that some Chicadee did not enter to inquire if
this was the Gulf of Mexico. But no one could tell anything about it, no
one was going that way, and the great river was hidden under ice and
snow.

About this time a messenger from Mother Carey was passing with a message
to the Caribou in the Far North; but all he could tell the Chicadees was
that he could not be their guide, as he had other business. "Besides,"
he said, "you h