88 Bird Comrades 



to drive it away, knowing, no doubt, that there were pre- 

 daceous enemies in the neighborhood. In her attempts 

 to drive it into hiding, she pecked it on the head and in 

 the mouth. Then she dropped down into a thicket and 

 secured a green worm, with which she flew up to the 

 chirping waif's perch; but I could not make out that she 

 fed the birdling, though she thrust the worm toward its 

 open mouth. Soon after she had gone off the second 

 time, the little bird clambered around the corner of the 

 wall to the lower side of the house, where it rested a while 

 on a narrow shelf. 



All this time my boy and I were watching it intently. 

 Suddenly a blue jay came flying over from one of the 

 trees of an adjacent yard, moving in a rapid, stealthy 

 way. First it plunged into an apple tree at the corner 

 of the house ; then, before I could collect my wits enough 

 to know what was happening, it darted over to the brick 

 wall, seized the little wren with its bill, and bore it off. 

 The mother wren followed, uttering a pitiful chatter, 

 while the little victim called loudly for help. The blue 

 kidnapper darted to a tree in my neighbor's yard, where 

 he put his booty under his claw on a limb, holding it by 

 one slender leg, while its body dangled below. Hoping 

 still to rescue the little captive, I sprang over into the 

 adjacent yard with a loud shout and much waving of 

 my hands; but my vigorous efforts only caused the jay 

 to pick up the wren in its bill and continue its flight, 

 and neither wren nor jay was seen by me again. This 

 incident furnishes unimpeachable testimony against the 



