"You are a great big man-bird, now. Almost as tall as your father, and you ought to be ashamed to even think of letting your mother feed you!"

said Mrs. Robin to Montgomery, who still had the habit of opening his mouth as wide as he could.

About the middle of the week, they were all flying around and getting their own food, so Robert Robin said to Mrs. Robin: "I have had a little matter on my mind for quite a while!"

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Robin.

"I have been thinking about taking a vacation!" said Robert Robin. "I have been working pretty hard, this summer, and the strain is beginning to tell! Only last night, I dreamed that seven spotted cats were chasing me through a briar patch! When I awoke I was all covered with a cold sweat! What I need is a little rest and relaxation!"

"What is relaxation?" asked Mrs. Robin.

"Something like rest, only more refined!" said Robert Robin.

"I think that I need a little vacation!" said Mrs. Robin, "so I will go along with you!"

"That will be fine!" said Robert Robin, "and we will take the children!

But where shall we go?"

"Where have you been planning on going, dear?" asked Mrs. Robin.

"I would like to go to some quiet, restful place, where there was plenty to eat and drink, and nothing to do."

"That would be a wonderful place to live!" said Mrs. Robin. "I should like to stay there always!"

"I was thinking that I would like to loaf around Brigg's Brambles for a few days, then go over to Black-bug Swamp for a few days, then drop over to the river for a day or two, or possibly spend a short time at the lake!"

"Brigg's Brambles is not a very safe place to take the children--there are so many owls and hawks around, and there is such an odor to Black-bug Swamp, and the last time we were over to the river, we saw all those boys shooting with their air guns. I was thinking that if we went to the mountains or to the seash.o.r.e we would meet a great many more of our friends,--but have your own way, dear--I will be perfectly happy anywhere!"

"Perhaps we had better go to the mountains!" said Robert Robin. "It would be safer for the children!"

"That would be fine if the weather stays warm, but I shall never forget that awful chill I had, year before last!"

"That settles it!" said Robert Robin. "We will go to the seash.o.r.e, where the weather is almost always good!"

"You have the best judgment about everything, dear!" said Mrs. Robin.

"You always know just how to decide it! It is perfectly wonderful how quickly you make up your mind!"

"My father was the same way!" said Robert Robin. "I think it runs in our family!" Then Robert Robin felt so fine that he flew up to the top of a hickory tree and sang his "Pick Pickles" song.

"Pick pickles!

Pick pickles!

A teasel tick tickles!

A peasel pick pickles!

A teasel pick pickles!"

And old Mister Woodp.e.c.k.e.r stopped drumming on his tree, and looked at Robert Robin and laughed and said:

"Every time I hear you sing that foolish song, I have to laugh in spite of myself!"

Then Old Mister Woodp.e.c.k.e.r started to drill another hole, but he was still so full of giggles that he could not get his mouth closed, and every time just as he went to tap the tree with his bill he would give a giggle.

"A teasel pick pickles! Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed Old Mister Woodp.e.c.k.e.r. "Ho!

Ho! Ho!" and it was four minutes before he could get the corner of his lips down so that he could get his mouth closed.

So Old Mister Woodp.e.c.k.e.r could not laugh and work at the same time, and that may be the reason why only a very few people have ever heard Mister Woodp.e.c.k.e.r laugh out loud, and not so very many people have even seen him smile.

CHAPTER VII

MISTER ROBERT ROBIN AND HIS FAMILY TAKE A VACATION

In the country where Robert Robin lived there were a great many lakes and streams. The streams ran down through the valleys, and emptied into the lakes, and the waters from the lakes emptied into larger streams which flowed into a great lake which looked as large as the sea.

Mister Robert Robin thought that the big lake was the sea, and all the other robins in his part of the country thought the same thing, so it was to the sh.o.r.e of the great lake that Robert Robin and his family went for their vacation.

The children were delighted with the trip across the country. It was great fun to fly from one woods to another, and then look around to see what new things could be found. No one was in a hurry to get anywhere.

"We have all the time there is!" said Mrs. Robin.

"Let us not be in a hurry!" said Robert Robin. "When one is taking a vacation he should never be in a hurry to get where he is going!"

"Much haste, less speed!" said Mrs. Robin. "Children, get your father to sing you his Wait-a-bit song!"

Then all the youngster robins began to coax Robert Robin to sing his Wait-a-bit song.

"Daddy! Please sing us your Wait-a-bit song! Daddy! Please sing us your Wait-a-bit song!"

So at last Robert Robin perched himself in the top of a tall b.u.t.ternut tree and sang them his Wait-a-bit song:

"Never hurry, Wait a bit!

Never worry, Wait a bit!

Do your work!

Never shirk!

Never hurry!

Never worry!

Wait a bit!"

Before Robert Robin had finished singing his Wait-a-bit song Mister Catbird came rushing over from the edge of a tangled swamp, and perched himself near Robert Robin, in the top of the tall b.u.t.ternut tree. When Robert Robin was through with his song, Mister Catbird said: "Mister Robin, you are a stranger to me but as I have never heard any other robin sing that same song, I would be pleased if you would do me the favor of singing it over once more!"

So Robert Robin sang his Wait-a-bit song over again for Mister Catbird, and Mister Catbird said: "Now sing it again, and I will sing along with you! I would like very much to learn that song! It is one of the best songs that I ever heard."

So Robert Robin sang the song again, and Mister Catbird sang along with him, but although Mister Catbird had a very fine voice, and could sing very good indeed, he put in so many wrong words that Robert Robin got all mixed up and sang a part of his Cherry song.

That made Mister Catbird laugh, and then he made a noise like a cat, and the little robins were very much surprised to see a nice-looking bird like Mister Catbird who could make a noise almost exactly like a cat.

Mister Catbird was a jolly person, and he was full of jokes. He sat there in the top of the tall b.u.t.ternut tree, and pretended that he was Mister Blackbird, and he sang Mister Blackbird's song all the way through. Then he said "Meow!" and then he sang a song very much like Robert Robin's "Rain" song, then he said "Meow!" again, and laughed. It made Robert Robin very angry to have Mister Catbird spoiling a good song like that by saying "Meow!" and he thought that Mister Catbird was making fun of him, so he said to Mister Catbird: