A tale of two birds

The two birds, the male and the female who met a few weeks ago, were in search of a good place to bring up their young ones. They will come to see the light of the day in near future.

“We are a vanishing group of birds,” the male said to the female.

“Yes I know. That is why we could not find a good place to lay eggs,” the female responded.

They both went from place to place, from house to house, from barn to barn. But they could not find a good place.

“I know of a wonderful place,” said the male one morning.
“Where is that?”

“There is a two-storied house at the end of a lane. The house is surrounded by squirrels and other types of birds.”

“Do you see any crowds?”
Asked the female bird.
“Not that I know of. But we can go there and see for ourselves.”

Then they visited the house at the lane’s end. They perched on a nearby tree situated closer. They watched carefully what is happening around them. To their surprise, they did not see any cats in the house.

There was a dog who did mind his own business. He barked occasionally when somebody came to the gate.

“Look what that lady is doing?” said the male bird to his partner.
“Oh she lays a plate of food on the wall.”

“Look, there are some birds and squirrels coming. They look so hungry. See how they eat food.”

“Why don’t we join them?”

They went to join the others fed by the lady. Then they could hear lady’s voice. She was calling her husband in a whispering tone.

“Come here, there are two more birds.”

The husband came slowly and went on watching how we enjoy the food given by the lady. Both of them seem to enjoy the sight. Then all of a sudden, the male bird flew into the house. He saw an antique lamp hanging from the ceiling of the house.

“Oh is this not a wonderful place to make our nest?” murmured the male bird.

Having blown round the light which had a broken shade, the male bird went straight to the female bird and announced his finding. The female bird too flew into the house and observed that it is a wonderful safe place to make their nest. Then the two birds found that the spacious house is occupied by the two, the lady and her husband. The lady stood in a pensive mood. She used to utter certain stanzas.

“This then is the ideal place to make our nest,” said the female and both of them commenced the next phase of bringing in various types of dry leaves, dray grass pieces of hay and other material. They were taking the work too leisurely. The master of the house at times came to sit in a cosy chair.

He used to read books and sometimes drift off.

While the two birds were twittering and flying hither and thither in this house, he watched the behaviour patiently, and kept notes about it. The two birds were making the nest so swiftly that they may have forgotten the lapse of time.

“They are always seen during the day time. But where do they go in the night?” Asked the lady once. The master replied.

“I think they are hiding in a treetop. With the dawn of the day they come here start work.”

Once it so happened that accidentally this half broken shade of the lap fell down, with a heavy din. The two birds flew away. The master of the house called the lady.

“Look what they have done?”

“Oh they have broken the shade. What are we going to do now?”

“Let us keep the shade once again in the same position,” said the master of the house. Saying so, he brought a ladder from downstairs and replaced a new shade in the same position.

“Luckily we had another one,” said the lady.
“But will they come again?” she asked.

“I placed all their building material in the manner as they had done,” responded the husband.

Once again both of them went on watching to see whether the two birds will come back. For one whole day the lady was worried for not seeing the two birds.

“Oh it looks as if we got to live alone once again. The birds may not come.” The lady said in a melancholic tone. As if hearing her tone, the two birds came once again one after the other. Both of them were seen seated inside the shade in a better position than they used to be. The lady told her husband.

“The mother bird is going to lay eggs now, “
“Let us not disturb them,” said the master of the house.