`` No . '' `` Nor exactly a bird ? '' `` No . '' `` What shall I be ? '' `` You will be a Betwixt-and-Between , '' Solomon said , and certainly he was a wise old fellow , for that is exactly how it turned out . The birds on the island never got used to him . His oddities tickled them every day , as if they were quite new , though it was really the birds that were new . They came out of the eggs daily , and laughed at him at once , then off they soon flew to be humans , and other birds came out of other eggs , and so it went on forever . The crafty mother-birds , when they tired of sitting on their eggs , used to get the young one to break their shells a day before the right time by whispering to them that now was their chance to see Peter washing or drinking or eating . Thousands gathered round him daily to watch him do these things , just as you watch the peacocks , and they screamed with delight when he lifted the crusts they flung him with his hands instead of in the usual way with the mouth . All his food was brought to him from the Gardens at Solomon 's orders by the birds . He would not eat worms or insects -LRB- which they thought very silly of him -RRB- , so they brought him bread in their beaks . Thus , when you cry out , `` Greedy ! Greedy ! '' to the bird that flies away with the big crust , you know now that you ought not to do this , for he is very likely taking it to Peter Pan . Peter wore no night-gown now . You see , the birds were always begging him for bits of it to line their nests with , and , being very good-natured , he could not refuse , so by Solomon 's advice he had hidden what was left of it . But , though he was now quite naked , you must not think that he was cold or unhappy . He was usually very happy and gay , and the reason was that Solomon had kept his promise and taught him many of the bird ways . To be easily pleased , for instance , and always to be really doing something , and to think that whatever he was doing was a thing of vast importance .
XXXXX became very clever at helping the birds to build their nests ; soon he could build better than a wood-pigeon , and nearly as well as a blackbird , though never did he satisfy the finches , and he made nice little water-troughs near the nests and dug up worms for the young ones with his fingers .
Betwixt-and-Between Pan Peter beaks crusts daily day left mother-birds right