NO REPOSE OF MANNER. 101 



always took his departure. It was amusing to 

 see a blackbird working seriously on a grain, 

 all his faculties absorbed in the solemn question 

 whether he should succeed in cracking his nut, 

 while two or three feathered pilferers stood as 

 near as they dared, anxiously waiting till the 

 great work should be accomplished, the hard 

 shell should yield, and some bits should fall. 



About five days after the feast was spread, 

 the young came out in force, often two of them 

 following one adult about on the grass, running 

 after him so closely that he could hardly get a 

 chance to break up the kernel; indeed, he often 

 had to fly to a tree to prepare the mouthfuls for 

 them. The young blackbird has not the slight- 

 est repose of manner ; nor, for that matter, has 

 the old one either. The grown-ups treated the 

 young well, almost always ; they never " squee- 

 gee 'd " at them, never touched them in any way, 

 notwithstanding they were so insistent in beg- 

 ging that they would chase an adult bird across 

 the grass, calling madly all the time, and fairly 

 force him to fly away to get rid of them. 



Once two young ones got possession of the 

 only spot where corn was left, and so tormented 

 their elders who came that they had to dash in 

 and snatch a kernel when they wanted one. 

 One of the old ones danced around these two 

 babies in a little circle a foot in diameter, the 



