BOYHOOD AND BIRDS. 71 



Oil ! I wouldn't lose them for the world ! catch them ! catch 

 them I" 



I shrieked in my agony for I had got myself hung upon 

 that knot by the remaining rags of my clothes, and the 

 dread of losing my birds was even greater than that of 

 breaking my neck. The old gentleman heartily sympathiz- 

 ing with me, sprung to the work right briskly, and, although 

 they compelled him to let them go several times by the se- 

 verity of their bites, yet he finally succeeded in capturing 

 three, which were fastened down under my hat. 



During the chase, I heard several very droll exclamations 

 from him which gave me a decidedly contemptible opinion 

 of his attainments as a naturalist. As he shook one of the 

 fierce little wretches off that had fastened upon his finger 

 when he tried to seize it he cried out with an exclamation 

 of pain and surprise 



" Ough ! Young mocking birds didn't bite that fashion 

 in old Virginia my boy ! Don't like that black spot under 

 the eye ! They do look mightly like mocking birds, too ! 

 How they do squall! Why they're as strong as young 

 wild cats, and as fierce too ! There ! there ! that one's gone !" 



" Gone where ?" I gasped, as I descended the tree with a 

 speed which seemed much more like falling than climbing 

 down, and completed the demolishment of my forlorn inex- 

 pressibles. 



" He ran under these rocks and you'll never get him 

 again, I'm afraid." 



" Never get him ?" and I almost burst into tears at the 

 thought of losing one of my precious new variety. The 

 spring came from under a sort of cave, and there were loose 

 piles of stone intended once for walls on each side of the 

 basin. Into these the cunning youngster had crawled, and 

 was far enough beyond our reach. I consoled myself by 

 heaping stones so as to prevent its escape, and determined 

 to go home and secure the prize in hand, and then return 

 with a negro man to dig this one out for me. This was not 



