BIRDS ABOUT THE HOUSE. 173 



got the rest back into the nest, but I very much 

 fear that not all of them survived the shock of 

 their fall, for they were quite young at the time 

 the misfortune occurred. 



My bluebirds weie destined to meet with still 

 mure reverses. Some days later I noticed that 

 they were engaged in a hot contest with the Eng- 

 lish sparrows, but I did not at first suspect that 

 the latter had any designs upon the home of the 

 former. One day, however, the male bluebird 

 stood on the board which formed the porch of his 

 little house, chirping and flapping his wings in a 

 very agitated way, while his mate sat on the ridge 

 of the roof and seemed to be no less disturbed. 

 The cause of the excitement was, as I soon dis- 

 covered, that an English sparrow had at last suc- 

 ceeded in forcing his way into the box and was 

 doubtless playing havoc with the nest and contents. 

 This was the beginning of the end. The bluebirds 

 lost heart, gave up the contest and went elsewhere. 



Another incident occurred that summer which 

 would have resulted tragically had it not been for 

 the timely succor given the bird wliich met with 

 the mishap. One day a member of the family was 

 startled by a violent rapping and fluttering in the 

 pipe of the sitting-room stove, which fortunately 



