CHAPTER XXII 



The Blue Jay: Cyanocitta Cristdta 



IN THE ORCHARD 



A LONG-TIME friend of mine told 

 me that "if I were interested in such 

 a blamed nuisance as a Jay Bird 

 there was a nest in a grape-vine 

 covered scrub elm in a fence-corner 

 on the west side of the orchard." 

 So I turned in at the lane, drove 

 past the machinery sheds, past the 

 garden where squares of radishes, 

 onions, lettuce, poppies and phlox 

 were surrounded by a hedge of 

 gooseberry and currant bushes, 

 past the milk yard, past the big red 

 barn, and down the long lane which 

 separated the orchard from a wheat 

 field and led on to the creek. This 

 world has no more beautiful spot 

 than that orchard. The big trees 

 were at their prime, there was a 

 thick carpet of waving grass be- 

 neath them, an arch of blue with lazy floating clouds above, while 

 around it was a lichen- and vine-covered old snake fence, most 

 rails of which housed uncounted tenants. 



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