138 A FEATHERED PAUL PRY. 



him off, bringing down upon herself in conse- 

 quence the wrath of the elder, and instant pur- 

 suit, which ended in the disappearance of her 

 chosen hero, and a forced endurance of the 

 tyrant's presence, till it appeared that she 

 would have to " marry him to get rid of him," 

 as our plain-spoken grandmothers characterized 

 a similar situation in human affairs. 



When these birds could spare time from their 

 own absorbing matters, they were very inquisi- 

 tive in the affairs of their neighbors. After 

 the mocking-bird babies were out, the orioles 

 often visited them, while the parents were 

 absent, for no reason that I could discover but 

 to see what they were like, and how they got 

 on, for nothing about them was disturbed. If, 

 however, an oriole was found by one of the old 

 mocking-birds perched on the edge of the nest, 

 he was driven away with a piece of mocking- 

 bird mind on the subject of meddlers. Like- 

 wise they frequently paid visits to a nuthatch 

 colony at the top of a tall pine-tree. Whether 

 more aggressive among these smaller birds, or 

 not, could not be seen. But the facts were 

 that upon an oriole's disappearing through those 

 heavy pine branches away above our heads, 

 there instantly arose a great outcry in the 

 querulous nuthatch voice, and the intruder re- 

 turned to the lower world with some precipi- 



