Exciting Adventures of Mister Robert Robin | Page 5

on her
nest and snuggled her eggs.
Major Partridge heard Bob White calling to him, so he strutted over to
see what Bob White wanted, but Robert Robin felt like visiting a little
more, so he said to Mrs. Partridge:
"You were speaking about being afraid that the farmer would shoot you;
he never shoots at me, but one time he threw a stone at me when I was
picking some of the cherries to bring home to my babies. He seemed
very angry about something."
"Perhaps he did not like you to be picking his cherries," said Mrs.
Partridge.
"They were not his cherries!" said Robert Robin. "They were on the

tree, and belonged to whoever got them first!"
"Men are great pests!" said Mrs. Partridge. "Old Mister Crow was
telling me that he could remember when the country was all woods,
and there were more of us partridges than there were men. Those must
have been the 'good old days!'"
"That farmer seems to think that he owns all the trees, and all the
fences, and all the fields!" said Robert Robin. "The rude manner he
uses towards his horses and the way he slaps them with the straps, and
the way he shouts at them is very disgusting to me! If I were a great big
horse, I would not let a little man, only one fifth of my size, boss me
around like that farmer does his big horses!"
"Neither would I!" exclaimed Mrs. Partridge. "But I shall never let that
farmer catch me if I can help it!"
"Then he has cats around his house and barn!" said Robert Robin. "Cats
are very bad animals!"
"Yes, they are!" agreed Mrs. Partridge. "And I wish that dog of his
would stay out of our woods! He is always prowling around, smelling
of things, and I expect that he will find my nest, and mercy knows what
I would ever do then!"
"Gerald Fox bit him once!" said Robert Robin. "But why not make
your nest up in a tree, Mrs. Partridge? It is much safer from dogs!"
"My mother built hers on the ground, and what was good enough for
my mother ought to be good enough for me!" said Mrs. Partridge, and
just then Robert Robin heard his wife calling to him to come and keep
watch of the nest while she went out for lunch.
"Where have you been all day?" asked Mrs. Robin. "I have been calling,
and calling, and I was beginning to get worried for fear something
dreadful had happened to you! You must have found many good things
to eat, for your crop sticks out like a chicken's!"

"I am very sorry if I kept you waiting, my dear!" said Robert Robin.
"But Major Partridge kicked up the leaves so that I caught a whole
cropful of brown bugs. He must have made so much noise that I did not
hear you calling to me!"
"You are usually so prompt in coming when I call, that I was sure you
would have a good reason!" said Mrs. Robin. "Now I will go over and
get my lunch, but I do not care for brown bugs to-day. I will get me
some black bugs, there must be plenty of them over in Black-bug
Swamp."
So Mrs. Robin went to Black-bug Swamp and found plenty of black
bugs, and on the way back she stopped near Mrs. Partridge's nest to get
one or two brown bugs for dessert.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Robin!" said Mrs. Partridge, and Mrs. Robin
jumped and looked all around, but she did not see Mrs. Partridge.
"Your husband and I have just had a nice long visit!" continued Mrs.
Partridge, and Mrs. Robin kept 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