So he went up the pine tree, of course, and spared his mother's feelings.
"The crows displayed no sense of gratitude whatever.

He might have eggs, of course, that boy, but not _their_ eggs! They flapped around him savagely, and made so much noise in his ears that he could not hear himself think.

But he kept his big straw hat pulled down well over his eyes, and paid no attention whatever to the indignant birds.

And because he was so quiet and positive about it, not one of them _quite_ dared to actually touch him.

The mother bird hopped off the nest sullenly just as he was about to put his hand on her.