



Produced by Katherine Ward, Suzanne Shell and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)





  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 all sides but leafless branches standing
out sharply against the cold, grey sky. The ground was frozen, and
entirely covered with snow, for there had been a heavy fall during the
