In the Lakewood Elementary bird-watching club, Brain wants to be the first one to spot the elusive green-tailed grebe.
Tropes for "For the Birds" include:
- Accidental Misnaming: In Buster's dream, he receives an award for finding the rare green-tailed grebe. He accidentally identifies it as the "green-tailed grub", and Brain angrily corrects him.
- Artistic License – Ornithology: The grebe in the episode is shown perching in a tree, which grebes can't do— in fact, they can barely support their own weight out of water. It generally looks and acts more like a duck than a grebe.
- Fun with Homophones: In the intro, Brain details some of the rarest things he and his friends have seen. This ends with a cut to Muffy in a fancy restaurant, complaining that her steak definitely isn't rare.Brain: Muffy, that's a completely different meaning of rare.
- Threat Backfire: A variant. Brain tries to warn Binky against going into the woods for birdwatching, saying that there's snakes and bugs and wild animals. Binky, who thinks this stuff is cool, willingly signs up.
When Buster builds a model of a grain thresher, he gives it to Arthur as a gift. Arthur trades it to Binky for a Dark Bunny poster. Buster is upset when he finds out; not only because of its symbolic meaning, but because his uncle is coming over and wants to see it.
Tropes for "Ungifted" include:
- Beanstalk Parody: Subverted. The episode's Cold Open has Arthur trading away his golden goose for a bag of magic beans, which he thinks will grow into a huge beanstalk that leads to a singing harp and treasure. Nothing grows besides a single bean sprout.
- Chain of Deals:
- In the opening, Arthur and Buster are medieval peasants, and Buster sends Arthur out to trade their cow for something better. Arthur ends up with a sack of gold from Brain, and trades that to Muffy for one of her golden geese. However, he gives the goose to Binky, who claims to sell him some "magic beans"; which turn out to be a scam, leaving Arthur worse off than when he started.
- Later, Arthur's attempts to get the thresher back. Buster gifts it to Arthur, who gives it to Binky, who gives it to Brain, who donates it to the school, where Mr. Ratburn puts it in the school's tag sale, where Mrs. Tibble buys it. Arthur buys it back, only for the Tibbles to destroy it.
- Literal Metaphor: Arthur's initial apology card includes a drawing of a small, sad dog in a doghouse, to accompany the text that says "Am I still in the doghouse?"
- Mondegreen Gag: When Arthur shows Binky his model of the thresher, his response is, "There's a pro wrestler named The Thrasher!" Arthur corrects him.
- Not Helping Your Case: Arthur assures D.W. that he's sorry for trading Buster's gift by making an apology card and even giving him a pair of mittens. D.W. points out that the mittens were a gift from his grandma.
- Orphaned Punchline: When Arthur goes to meet Buster and his uncle Stu for dinner, the first thing we hear is Stu saying, "And so I said, 'That's no way to treat a poodle!'" Buster laughs at the joke.
- Rejected Apology: Arthur tries to give Buster the signed Dark Bunny poster he got from Binky. However, he messes it up by saying "you can borrow this for as long as you want". Buster's offended that he's not getting a gift, but something loaned.
- Tinfoil Hat: Alien enthusiast Buster owns a tinfoil hat, which he offers his mother to wear when it's raining and they can't find an umbrella. She declines.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Buster is not happy about Arthur trading away the thresher he gave him as a present, to get something for himself. He then asks if Arthur has given any of his other gifts away, too.Arthur: I'm sorry. I didn't know it was such a big deal.
Buster: Big deal? Oh, it wasn't a big deal! It was just a present! From your best friend! - Even D.W. calls Arthur out for this later. She suggests that Arthur give Buster the poster he got if he's really sorry.D.W.: It's a picture of a bunny dancing with an octopus! How can it be more important than your best friend?
- Buster is not happy about Arthur trading away the thresher he gave him as a present, to get something for himself. He then asks if Arthur has given any of his other gifts away, too.
