FLYGOOD AND FLEETWING 269 



they paid no further attention to the sparrows. But Eng- 

 lish sparrows are mean-spirited and carry a grudge. For 

 weeks these sparrows lost no opportunity to slip into the 

 martin box and commit any depredation they could. Thia 

 made life strenuous for the martins. Flygood did not 

 attempt to help brood the eggs, but perched on the martin 

 box much of the time watching for the sparrows. Half a 

 dozen times a day it was necessary for Flygood to chase 

 them away. He sometimes left long enough to secure food, 

 and he even carried food to his mate at times; but usually 

 she left the nest and went for food on her own account. At 

 these times Flygood never left the precious nest more than a 

 few feet. Even then he often had to use strenuous efforts 

 to protect the nest. While ordinarily only the female 

 sparrow came to the martin house, one day when the 

 mother martin was away bathing or gathering food the 

 male sparrow came and drew Flygood away in pursuit 

 while his wife slipped into the nest. She threw another 

 egg out of the nest only a day or two before it would have 

 hatched. These sparrows were not now fighting for a nest- 

 ing place. They had a nest and eggs of their own. What 

 they did was done apparently out of mean-spirited spite. 



After that day's experience the martins kept more care- 

 ful watch than ever over the house. The experience of 

 having the female sparrow break an egg while he chased her 

 husband taught Flygood a lesson. Now he never chased a 

 sparrow more than a few feet before he returned to the 

 house to make sure that its mate had not slipped in during 

 his absence. 



When the young hatched, new difficulties presented 

 themselves, for they must be fed at all hazards, since star- 

 vation was even more to be dreaded than sparrows. Per- 



