down along the back fence. But best of all 
were the birds. There were yellow warblers 
in the maples and bobolinks in the meadows and 
vireos wherever there were trees. Then there 
were downy woodpeckers, and pigeons, and 
blackbirds—but we could not name every one 
of them if we tried, for there were so many that 
even Billy did not know them all. 
Of all the birds around the farm the one he 
liked best was the jay. The jaunty blue and 
white fellow was always getting into mischief, 
yet he was so gaily dressed and was ever so 
wonderfully cheerful that Billy had named him 
~ Robin Hood, and declared that the woods in the 
glen were Sherwood Forest where he hid with 
his merry band. 
Robin Hood knew Billy, and I have no doubt 
liked him, too, as he had good cause to do. One 
day he came to a spruce tree that stood close 
beside the house and was hopping about among 
the limbs, when through the open window he 
saw a little boy eating peanuts. This interested 
him very much, so he flew nearer and, stretching 
forward his neck, turned first one side of his 
82 
