today, she encouraged the babies a little further out of doors. she had found a series of feathers dropped by a frightened jay, and crooned them to to come and look. "it's blue, @Eagle," chickadee murmured. "and @Crane, look at the black stripes! @Cardinal, see how they're white here? that's because they're thicker feathers."
she conversed with them often this way, seeing no reason to coddle their speech, and now smiled fondly at them.

cardinal cooed! eagle said the word himself, and chickadee grinned in heady delight. little crane seemed surprised; her mother reached to separate the girl from the feather.
"very good, very good," she told her birdbabies. "blue. white. black. all colors. and soon you'll have even more to look at."