SELF-WILLED BLOSSOMS. 149 



him with loud cries, which I heard for some 

 time after the two had disappeared in the dis- 

 tance, and when our bird returned, he perched 

 on an evergreen, bowing and "jouncing" vio- 

 lently, his manner plainly defying the enemy to 

 " try it again." At another time I observed 

 a savage fight, or what looked like it, between 

 two jays. I happened not to see the beginning, 

 for I was particularly struck that morning with 

 the behavior of a bouquet of nasturtiums w r hich 

 stood in a vase on my table. I never was fond 

 of these flowers, and I noticed then for the first 

 time how very self-willed and obstinate they 

 were. No matter how nicely they were arranged, 

 it would not be an hour before the whole bunch 

 was in disorder, every blossom turning the way 

 it preferred, and no two looking in the same 

 direction. I thought, when I first observed this, 

 that I must be mistaken, and I took them out 

 and rearranged them as I considered best ; but 

 the result was always the same, and I began to 

 feel that they knew altogether too much for 

 their station in the vegetable world. I was try- 

 ing to see if I could discover any method in 

 their movements, when I was startled by a flash- 

 ing vision of blue down under the locusts, and, 

 on looking closely, saw two jays flying up like 

 quarrelsome cocks, only not together, but al- 

 ternately, so that one was in the air all the 



