44 HE GREW BELLIGERENT. 



held himself very erect, wings straight down, 

 every instant on guard. His happiness de- 

 manded expression in song, certainly, but in- 

 stead of confining himself to the roof he circled 

 the lawn, which was between two and three 

 hundred feet wide. If he began in a group of 

 cedars on the right, he sang awhile there, then 

 flew to the fence next the road without a pause 

 in the music, and in a few minutes passed to 

 the group of pines at the left, perched on a 

 dead branch, and finished his song there. It 

 was most tantalizing, though I could but admit 

 it a proof of intelligence. 



Another change appeared in the bird with 

 the advent of family cares : he was more bellig- 

 erent; he drove the bluebird off the lawn, he 

 worried the tufted titmouse when it chanced to 

 alight on his tree, and in the most offensive 

 way claimed ownership of pine-trees, lawn, and 

 all the fence bordering the same. Neighboring 

 mocking-birds disputed his claim, and many a 

 furious chase took place among the trees. (So 

 universal is their habit of insisting upon exclu- 

 sive right to certain grounds that two mocking- 

 birds are never found nesting very near each 

 other, in that part of the country. This I was 

 assured, and found it true of those I observed.) 

 These little episodes in his life kept the pine- 

 tree bird from dullness, while his mate was en- 



