90 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



charge. But the bird, though often seeming to be 

 in danger, would manage to avoid the attack, and 

 would lead puss a chase around the garden, and 

 up to the top of a thick tree, while the other bird 

 fed the young. Suddenly the cat would be left in 

 the tree, to descend which was a matter of no 

 little difficulty. The whole performance occurred 

 so often that a terrier on the premises learned the 

 meaning of the blackbird's cries, and often brought 

 relief by hunting the hunter. 



But let us not restrict the higher developments 

 of sentiment and action to the bird and the quad- 

 ruped. Indications of the same divine instincts 

 may be found in the chill and silent world of 

 water. Following down the course of our rivulet, 

 we come to a slow shallow, where the muddy bed 

 lies undisturbed at a depth of from four to five 

 inches. Here lives a fish, small and insignificant, 

 but in some respects nobler than the salmon, for 

 it builds a nest with at least the architectural skill 

 of the heron, and guards it with bravery and 

 address equal, perhaps, to anything of the kind in 

 the whole realm of Nature. 



