and here they stay until the approach of winter 
drives them away. With all their coming and 
going and their chasing and fighting and shout- 
ing, it is a very busy and a very noisy place. 
The king of all this city of ten thousand inhabi- 
tants was Hardheart.. Not that he really ever 
was their ruler, for birds do not have kings, even 
if small groups of them at times do have leaders; 
but nevertheless we may call him king, because 
he was the largest one among them. ‘Then, too, 
it was certainly true that of all that savage crew 
he was the fiercest and the most bloodthirsty. 
Mark Thaw could not tell how old Hardheart 
was, nor in what nest he had been hatched. If 
Mark did not know these things it is certain that 
no one did, for he was the warden who was hired 
every summer to protect the colony from the 
raids of eggers and feather hunters, so that he 
spent much time with the birds. 
Mark said the first time he ever noticed Hard- 
heart was one day in June, when he sawhim stand- 
ing on a very large rock near the shore, looking 
down at his mate sitting on her nest. He did 
not like the approach of the warden, and flew 
5 
