THE BLUEBIRD 197 



have been interpreted, it would have proven the 

 rankest- and most voluble Billingsgate ever uttered. 

 For the wren is saucy, and he has a tongue in his 

 head that can outwag any other tongue known to me. 



The bluebirds said nothing, but the male kept an 

 eye on Mr. Wren; and, when he came too near, 

 gave chase, driving him to cover under the fence, 

 or under a rubbish-heap or other objeet, where the 

 wren would scold and rattle away, while his pursuer 

 sat on the fence or the pea-brush waiting for him to 

 reappear. 



Days passed, and the usurpers prospered and the 

 outcasts were wretched; but the latter lingered 

 about, watching and abusing their enemies, and 

 hoping, no doubt, that things would take a turn, 

 as they presently did. The outraged wrens were 

 fully avenged. The mother bluebird had laid her 

 full complement of eggs and was beginning to set, 

 when one day, as her mate was perched above her 

 on the barn, along came a boy with one of those 

 wicked elastic slings and cut him down with a peb- 

 ble. There he lay like a bit of sky fallen upon the 

 grass. The widowed bird seemed to understand 

 what had happened, and without much ado disap- 

 peared next day in quest of another mate. How- 

 she contrived to make her wants known, without 

 trumpeting them about, I am unable to say. But I 

 presume the birds have a way of advertising that 

 answers the purpose well. Maybe she trusted to 

 luck to fall in with some stray bachelor or bereaved 

 male who would undertake to console a widow of 



