THE FEAST OF VEGETABLES 115 



overhead in just the exact and spicily delicious 

 state of pre-ripeness that I like. Above in the tree 

 the birds see that none go to waste, but below 

 many fall to the ground in that over-ripeness which 

 has given the mulberry a poor reputation. 



Writing of birds reminds me that last year the 

 blackbirds, otherwise called the purple grackles, 

 and more often and quite properly called a con- 

 founded nuisance, departed in a body on July first. 

 Their absence is most gratifying; for their habits 

 are not nice, their noise is most unmelodious, 

 and their impudence quite aggravating. I have 

 been awakened at three o'clock in the morning by 

 the beginning of their squawking overture, the last 

 notes of which had been heard long after sun- 

 down the night before. When hundreds have set- 

 tled at once in the "front" horse-chestnut, the 

 hose has been turned upon them, to their enjoy- 

 ment; and a vicious-looking moving scarecrow in 

 the big sycamore merely formed for them a satis- 

 factory roost. My bird-friends, the inveterate 

 Audubonists Mrs. Wright and Mr. Chapman, 

 both recommend a shot-gun; but here my nerve 

 fails! 



These grackles have not been able either to 

 scare away or starve out all the other and better 

 birds. The many robins that have evidently con- 



