and walked off to where some short boards were 
leaning against a cross-piece supported by two 
stakes. He peered under this. 
“Come on and have thy breakfast,” he said, 
“Thee can’t sit all the time and never eat.” 
But the setting hen did not budge. So he 
reached down and picked her up in his hands. 
He carried her away for perhaps ten feet, then 
he let her down and held her until she began to 
eat. After watching her a few minutes he 
turned to leave. He had gone but a dozen steps 
when he heard her angry “‘cluck,”’ and turned 
just in time to see her go rushing back to the 
nest with outspread wings and raised feathers. 
As she did this a brilliant blue-jay leaped into 
the air and flew up to an old chestnut near by. 
The farmer went back to investigate and found 
in the side of one of the eggs a freshly pecked 
hole about the size of a lead pencil. 
“Mother,” he said at breakfast, “that blue-jay 
ruined one of Martha’s eggs this morning. I 
am afraid I shall have to kill him yet.” 
“What does thee think Billy would say when 
he learned of it?’’ she asked. | 
iia 
