24 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 
‘In the mean time the robins had been watch- 
ing these unusual proceedings with much anxiety 
and uneasiness ; apparently not well pleased and 
not a little alarmed that their hereditary foes 
should presume to invade their domains and be- 
come domiciled in such close proximity to their 
own residence. But they made no hostile demon- 
strations that day, waiting to see the turn of af- 
fairs, and, as the sequel shows, to gain time to 
summon the assistance of friends. Early the next 
morning they resolved to eject the new-comers 
from the premises. 
“Then occurred the most remarkable scene I 
ever witnessed. At the loud cries of the combat- 
ants an immense number of birds of both kinds 
came flocking from all quarters to the scene of 
action, as if they had been expecting the affray. 
They attacked each other with great ferocity and 
fought pluckily with bills and feet amid loud 
‘eries of anger and derision. Feathers flew. The 
wounded would fly away to a neighboring tree to 
nurse their hurts for a moment, when, still smart- 
ing with pain, back they would come to fight with 
redoubled fury. The shrieks and cries increased 
till it seemed a veritable pandemonium. Every 
robin and blackbird within the radius of a mile 
must have been present, either as spectator or par- 
ticipant in the strife. After a time, finding that 
both parties were equally brave, and that neither 
would yield, they with one accord withdrew from 
