Mother Carey's Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggin

"By and by there came along a flock of petrels, who are Mother Carey's own chickens. They flitted along like a flock of swallows, hopping and skipping from wave to wave, lifting their little feet behind them so daintily that Tom fell in love with them at once."

Nancy stopped reading and laid down the copy of "Water Babies" on the sitting-room table. "No more just now, Peter-bird," she said; "I hear mother coming."