12 MY GARDEN ACQUAINTANCE. 



The mystery had a very simple solution. In building the 

 nest, a long piece of packthread had been somewhat loosely 

 woven in. Three of the young had contrived to entangle 

 themselves in it, and had become full-grown without being 

 able to launch themselves upon the air. One was 

 unharmed ; another had so tightly twisted the cord about 

 its shank that one foot was curled up and seemed para 

 lysed ; the third, in its struggles to escape, had sawn 

 through the flesh of the thigh and so much harmed itself 

 that I thought it humane to put an end to its misery. 

 When I took out my knife to cut their hempen bonds, the 

 heads of the family seemed to divine my friendly intent. 

 Suddenly ceasing their cries and threats, they perched 

 quietly within reach of my hand, and watched me in my 

 work of manumission. This, owing to the fluttering terror 

 of the prisoners, was an affair of some delicacy ; but ere 

 long I was rewarded by seeing one of them fly away to a 

 neighbouring tree, while the cripple, making a parachute of 

 his wings, came lightly to the ground, and hopped off as well 

 as he could with one leg, obsequiously waited on by his 

 elders. A week later I had the satisfaction of meeting him 

 in the pine-walk, in good spirits, and already so far 

 recovered as to be able to balance himself with the lame 

 foot. I have no doubt that in his old age he accounted for 

 his lameness by some handsome story of a wound received at 

 the famous Battle of the Pines, when our tribe, overcome 

 by numbers, was driven from its ancient camping-ground. 

 Of late years the jays have visited us only at intervals ; 

 and in winter their bright plumage, set off by the snow, 

 and their cheerful cry, are especially welcome. They 

 would have furnished JEsop with a fable, for the feathered 

 crest in which they seem to take so much satisfaction is 

 often their fatal snare. Country boys make a hole with 

 their finger in the snow-crust just large enough to admit 

 the jay s head, and, hollowing it out somewhat beneath, 

 bait it with a few kernels of corn. The crest slips easily 

 into the trap, but refuses to be pulled out again, and he who 

 came to feast remains a prey. 



