BIRDS. 
aw 
BIRD ENEMIES. 
How surely the birds know their enemies! See 
how the wrens and robins and bluebirds pursue and 
scold the cat, while they take little or no notice of the 
dog! Even the swallow will fight the cat, and, re- 
lying too confidently upon its powers of flight, some- 
times swoops down so near to its enemy that it is 
caught. by a sudden stroke of the cat’s paw. The 
only case I know of in which our small birds fail to 
recognize their enemy is furnished by the shrike ; ap- 
parently the little birds do not know that this modest- 
colored bird is an assassin. At least, 1 have never 
seen them scold or molest him, or utter any outcries 
at his presence, as they usually do at birds of prey. 
Probably it is because the shrike is a rare visitant, 
and is not found in this part of the country during 
the nesting season of our songsters. 
But the birds have nearly all found out:the trick 
of the jay, and when he comes sneaking through the 
trees in May and June in quest of eggs, he is quickly 
exposed and roundly abused. It is amusing to see 
the robins hustle him out of the tree which holds their 
nest. They ery “Thief, thief!” to the top of their 
voices as they charge upon him, and the jay retorts in 
a voice scarcely less complimentary as he makes off. 
