84 A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO. 



song sparrow sang blithely in the old tree, while 

 his gentle mate went about looking for food for 

 her brood. Her little birds had come ! How 

 happy and full of business she seemed ! She ran 

 nimbly over the ground, weaving in and out be- 

 tween the stalks of the oats and the yellow mus- 

 tard, as if there were paths in her forest. When 

 she had to run across the sand bed, out in open 

 sight, she put up her tail, held her wings tight at 

 her sides, and scudded across. Then with the 

 sunlight through the leaves dappling her back, 

 she ran around the foot of the sycamore. She 

 had something in her bill, and with a happy 

 chirp was off to her brood. 



There was another family abroad on our beat. 

 When riding past the little lover's, I heard voices 

 of young birds beyond, and rode out to the oak 

 in the middle of the field from which they came, 

 to see who it was. It was a surprise to find a 

 family of full-fledged blue jays — a surprise, be- 

 cause the jays had been terrorizing the small 

 birds of the neighborhood till it seemed strange 

 to think they had any family life themselves. I 

 had come to feel that they were great hobgoblins 

 going about seeking whom they could devour ; 

 but such harsh judgments are usually false, 

 whether of birds or beasts, and I was convinced 

 against my will on hearing the tender tone in 

 which the old jays called to their young. 



To be sure, they were imperative in their com- 



