202 BIRDS'-NESTING. 



oblivious of my presence, cocked himself up on the 

 rim of the cup and proceeded to eat my choicest ber- 

 ries. I remained motionless and observed him. He 

 had eaten but two when the thought seemed to occur 

 to him that he might be doing better, and he began 

 to fill his pockets. Two, four, six, eight of my ber- 

 ries quickly disappeared, and the cheeks of the little 

 vagabond swelled. But all the time he kept eating, 

 that not a moment might be lost. Then he hopped 

 off the cup, and went skipping from stone to stone 

 till the brook was passed, when he disappeared in 

 the woods. In two or three minutes he was back 

 again, and went to stuffing himself as before ; then he 

 disappeared a second time, and I imagined told a 

 friend of his, for in a moment or two along came a 

 bobtailed chipmunk, as if in search of something, 

 and passed up, and down, and around, but did not 

 quite hit the spot. Shortly, the first returned a third 

 time, and had now grown a little fastidious, for he 

 began to sort over my berries, and to bite into them, 

 as if to taste their quality. He was not long in load- 

 ing up, however, and in making off again. But I 

 had now got tired of the joke, and my berries were 

 appreciably diminishing, so I moved away. What 

 was most curious about the proceeding was, that the 

 little poacher took different directions each time, and 

 returned from different ways. Was this to elude 

 pursuit, or was he distributing the fruit to his friends 

 and neighbors about, astonishing them with straw- 

 berries for lunch ? 



