& BIRDS. 
The jays have their enemies also, and need to keep 
an eye on their own eggs. It would be interesting to 
know if jays ever rob jays, or crows plunder crows; 
or is there honor among thieves even in the feathered 
tribes? I suspect the jay is often punished by birds 
which are otherwise innocent of nest-robbing. One 
season I found a jay’s nest in a small cedar on the 
side of a wooded ridge. It held five eggs, every one 
of which had been punctured. Apparently some bird 
had driven its sharp beak through their shells, with 
the sole intention of destroying them, for no part of 
the contents of the eggs had been removed. It looked 
like a case of revenge; as if some thrush or warbler, 
whose nest had suffered at the hands of the jays, had 
watched its opportunity, and had in this way retali. 
ated upon its enemies. An egg for anegg. The jays 
were lingering near, very demure and silent, and pro- 
bably ready to join a crusade against nest-robbers. 
The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. The 
owl snatches them from off their roosts at night, and 
gobbles up their eggs and young in their nests. He 
is a veritable ogre to them, and his presence fills them 
with consternation and alarm. 
One season, to protect my early cherries, I eee 
a large stuffed owl amid the branches of the tree. 
Such a racket as there instantly began about my 
grounds is not pleasant to think upon! The orioles 
and robins fairly “shrieked out their affright.” The 
news instantly spread in every direction, and appar- 
ently every bird in town came to see that owl in the 
cherry-tree, and every bird took a cherry, so that I 
lost more fruit than if I had left the owl in-doors. 
With craning necks and horrified looks the birds 
alighted upon the branches, and between their screams 
