172 DOWN THE MEADOW. 



before him in flocks, sandpipers took to their 

 wings in panic, swallows swooped down over him 

 in anxious clouds, sharp-tailed sparrows and all 

 other winged creatures fled wildly before this 

 " agitator," who seemed to have no aim except 

 to disturb, and reminded me irresistibly of his 

 human prototype. Somewhere in that " league 

 upon league of marsh grass," I suppose, were the 

 blackbird's little folk; for the watcher on the 

 bank was in deepest tribulation, and his outcries 

 quickly brought me down to see what had hap- 

 pened. 



The Young Americans of the redwing family 

 are as vivacious and uneasy as might be expected 

 of the scions of that house. No sooner do they 

 get the use of their sturdy legs than they scram- 

 ble out of the nest and start upon their bustling 

 pilgrimage through life, first climbing over the 

 bushes in their neighborhood, and as they learn 

 the use of their wings becoming more venture- 

 some, till at last, every time a hard-w^orking 

 mother brings a morsel of food, she has to hunt 

 up her stragglhig offspring before she can dis- 

 pose of it. Though eager for food as most 

 youngsters, they are altogether too busy investi- 

 gating this new and interesting world to stay 

 two minutes in one place. So far from waiting, 

 like Mr. Micawber, for something to turn up, 

 they proceed, the moment they can use their 



