AMONG MY TENANTS. 127 



a pleasant place to linger in. The sea-breeze 

 was so strong it turned the willow leaves white 

 side out, and the beautiful glistening mustard 

 grew so high there that when Canello walked into 

 it, the golden blossoms waved over our heads. 

 We haunted the premises till the birds had fin- 

 ished their framework, put in a lining of snow- 

 white plant cotton, and had laid four eggs. 



But when getting to feel like an old friend of 

 the family, on riding down one day I found the 

 nest lying in the dust of the road broken and 

 despoiled. It made me as unhappy as if the 

 outlaws had been unimpeachable bird citizens — 

 which comes of knowing both sides of a person's 

 character ! Do birds hand down traditions of ill 

 luck? However it may be, five years later I 

 found the nest of a pair in a dark mat of mistle- 

 toe at the end of a high oak branch, which was a 

 much safer place than the low willow. 



While I was watching the first shrike family, 

 Canello had two scares. Once when we were 

 standing still by the willow we heard what sounded 

 like a rattlesnake springing its rattle. The ner- 

 vous horse pricked up his ears, raised his head, 

 and looked in the grass as if he saw snakes, and 

 though I succeeded in quieting him, when we 

 went home he started at every stick and was ready 

 to shy at every shadow. Another morning he 

 saw a Mexican riding along by the vineyard, 

 a man with a very dark face and a red shirt. 



