PHASES OF BIRD LIFE. 211 
stantial evidence. Yet in defence of the handsome 
rascal it may be said that he does good in other 
directions, for he rids the earth of many pestiferous 
insects. Gladly would I acquit him of all blame if 
that were possible. 
Mr. Burroughs thinks that birds which have suf- 
fered at the blue jay’s hands — or, rather, beak — 
often retaliate by destroying the jay’s eggs. He 
found a jay’s nest with five eggs, every one of which 
was punctured, apparently by the sharp bill of some 
bird, with the sole purpose of destroying them, for 
no part of their contents had been removed. He 
suggests that in the bird world the Mosaic law may 
be, “ An egg for an egg,” instead of “ An eye for an 
eye,” 
The life of young birds hangs on a very brittle 
thread. A kind of Damocles’ sword seems to be 
dangling over them. What a “slaughter of inno- 
cents’’ inasingle season! I think that of the many 
nests I found during the spring of 1892 fully half 
were raided. How often, on finding a nest, I have 
resolved to watch it until the young birds were ready 
to leave; but on going back a few days later, the 
cradle was rifled of its treasures. These frequent 
“tragedies of the nests” 
heart. It is no paradox to say that many birds are 
killed before they are born. 
Birds often meet with fatal accidents. They 
make the bird-lover sick at 
sometimes impale themselves on a thorn, or creep 
into places in thorn-trees from which they cannot 
extricate themselves. Arcbin hung itself one spring 
