Page:Scouting for girls, adapted from Girl guiding.djvu/106

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92
SCOUTING FOR GIRLS
  • Lily-of-the-Valley.
  • Daisy.
  • Goldenrod.
  • Forget-me-not.
  • Lilac.
  • Violet.
  • Iris.
  • Pink Carnation.
  • Morning Glory.
  • Pink Wild Rose.
  • Thistle.
  • Nasturtium.
  • Daffodil.
  • Dogwood.
  • Holly.

A Cuckoo Patrol

A jay is a showy, gaudy kind of bird and, like her bigger friend the peacock, has a rasping, raucous voice, and she eats other birds' eggs, and generally does more harm than good in the world. There are human jays and peacocks, but you won't find them among the Scouts. The English cuckoo is a curious bird of another kind. She makes herself out to look somewhat like a hawk, and somewhat like a dove, you don't know whether she is very bold or very peaceful; at any rate she lets you know that she's there. She uses her voice freely. But she's a lazy creature, does not bother to make a nest of her own, but goes and puts her eggs in other birds' nests—rather deceitful, because she often makes her eggs match those in the nest she is using—gives them all the trouble of bringing up her young ones. She leaves them and goes off South in July, before her offspring can fly with her. In fact, she is a fraud, she imitates others and blusters about a lot for a short time, but she does not do any real work.

Sometimes there have been imitation Girl Scouts, who dressed themselves up in our uniform, gave themselves similar badges, made themselves unpleasantly conspicuous, but never really grasped the Scout spirit nor did the Scout work, and so they won for themselves the name of cuckoo. So don't belong to a cuckoo patrol.