The Project Gutenberg EBook of What the Blackbird said, by
Mrs. Frederick Locker and Randolph Caldecott

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Title: What the Blackbird said
A story in four chirps

Author: Mrs. Frederick Locker
Randolph Caldecott

Release Date: June 13, 2009 [EBook #29111]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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WHAT THE BLACKBIRD SAID.

A Story
_IN FOUR CHIRPS_.

BY
MRS. FREDERICK LOCKER.

_ILLUSTRATED BY RANDOLPH CALDECOTT._

LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS
BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL
NEW YORK: 416 BROOME STREET
1881

LONDON:
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C.

TO MY DEAR CHILDREN,
GODFREY AND DOROTHY,
THIS LITTLE STORY IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY THEIR MOTHER.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHIRP THE FIRST--WINTER 1
CHIRP THE SECOND--SPRING 22
CHIRP THE THIRD--SUMMER 47
CHIRP THE FOURTH--AUTUMN 69

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
THE BLACKBIRD ON A SMALL WHITE HILLOCK. 4
THE ROBIN'S NEST. 38
THE ROOK. 62
THE THREE FRIENDS--THE ROBIN, THE ROOK, AND THE BLACKBIRD. 84

CHIRP THE FIRST.

The winter of 1878 was certainly an unusually dreary one, and so thought
a remarkably fine young Blackbird, as he perched one morning on the bare
bough of a spreading lime-tree, whose last brown leaf had fallen to the
ground some weeks before.

With the exception of the Scotch firs and other fortunate evergreens,
there was nothing to be seen on