n6 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



spite of all his fruit-stealing propensities, he is a 

 favourite, like the " spadger " ; and although he 

 has had rough dues for years, he is well to the 

 front yet. Children show their inherited com- 

 mon-sense by the way in which they treat their 

 favourites, and when I lived with the Wood- 

 landers they used to take me into their con- 

 fidence. I often wish those happy days would 

 come back again ; but the times are changed, 

 and the days of youth gone also. 



"We want ye to hev a look at our young 

 jay-birds ; they can't feed theirselves yit, so we 

 got 'em in the bottom o' an old bee-skep. Dad 

 says he'll knock us up a place fur 'em afore 

 long, what they kin git about in, an' not rub 

 the tails off, arter they got 'em. Jays is like 

 mags ; they wants lots o' room to git about in." 



Now, this is as it should be ; but to see 

 a dirty, ragged, tailless jay passing away its 

 miserable life in a wicker cage made for a black- 

 bird, is a sorry sight. As the master is, so will 

 his dog be ; and a poor bird kept in miserable 

 surroundings, or rather the scarecrow form 

 of a bird, will run over all the objectionable 

 sounds it may hear for the benefit of those pass- 

 ing by and living near it, and it actually seems 

 to delight in its unbirdlike conversation. A 



