heir slender necks
enabled them to bend their heads low. Chubbins' hat fell off, a minute
later, and he wondered how he was going to get it on his head again.

"Can't you stand on one foot, and use the other foot like a hand?"
asked Twinkle.

"I don't know," said he.

"The storks stand on one leg," continued the girl. "I've seen 'em in
pictures."

So Chubbins tried it, and found he could balance his little body on one
leg very nicely. For if he toppled either way he had but to spread his
wings and tail feathers and so keep himself from falling. He picked up
his hat with the claws of his other foot and managed to put it on by
ducking his head.

This gave the boy-lark a new idea. He broke off a piece of the cookie
and held it in his claw while he ate it; and seeing his success Twinkle
followed his example, and after a few attempts found she could eat very
comfortably in that way.

Having had their luncheon--and it amazed Chubbins to see how very
little was required to satisfy their hunger--the bird-children crept
out of the basket and flew down to the twig beside their nest.

"Hello!" cried a strange voice. "Newcomers, eh?"

They were so startled that they fluttered a moment to keep from
tumbling off the limb. Then Twinkle saw a furry red head sticking out
of a small hollow in the trunk of the tree. The head had two round
black eyes, an inquisitive nose, a wide mouth with sharp teeth and
whiskers like those of a cat. It seemed as big as the moon to the shy
little child-larks, until it occurred to the girl that the strange
creature must be a squirrel.

"You--you scared us!" she said, timidly.

"You scared _me,_ at first," returned the squirrel, in a comic tone.
"Dear me! how came you birds to have children's heads?"

"That isn't the way to put it," remarked Chubbins, staring back into
the eyes of the squirrel. "You should ask how we children happened to
have birds' bodies."

"Very well; put the conundrum that way, if you like," said the
squirrel. "What is the answer?"

"We are enchanted," replied Twinkle.

"Ah. The tuxix?"

"Yes. We were caught in the forest, and she bewitched us."

"That is too bad," said their new acquaintance. "She is a very wicked
old creature, for a fact, and loves to get folks into trouble. Are you
going to live here?"

"Yes," answered the girl. "Policeman Bluejay gave us this nest."

"Then it's all right; for Policeman Bluejay rules the feathered tribes
of this forest about