THE BIRD OF SOCIETY. 99 



If you keep still so long that the lively bird 

 forgets your presence and becomes less noisy, 

 you may see him sit down on a branch to rest 

 after his excitement, letting his tail hang 

 straight down ; and now and then, stretching 

 out his long neck till the feathers stand apart, 

 swell out his throat and treat you to his song. 

 If the hour is favorable you may see him bathe, 

 and it is worth seeing, for he is exceedingly 

 fond of water. He spatters and splashes with 

 a good will, and although too careless a fellow 

 to be much of a dandy in his subsequent toilet, 

 — simply shaking himself violently, and leav- 

 ing the sunshine to complete the drying, — yet 

 his coat is bright and shining. 



When the young blackbird family appears 

 on the tree, the spectacle is most amusing. 

 The father, fussy as the celebrated " hen with 

 one chicken," hopping and running over the 

 branches, chattering all the time, and now and 

 then offering a dainty morsel to one of the in- 

 fants ; the mother busy enough trying to fill the 

 ever yawning mouths ; and the clumsy young- 

 sters themselves, as big as their mother and ex- 

 actly like her in color, too restless to keep near 

 each other, but sidling along the branches and 

 hopping awkwardly about the tree, so that the 

 mother has to seek them in a new place every 

 time she returns from her excursions for food. 



