1 24 More Tales of the Birds 



up by a sparrow coming into the bush and 

 beginning to chatter loudly. The next minute 

 there came another, then a third, a fourth, half- 

 a-dozen together, all chattering and quarrelling 

 so noisily that for the moment they did not 

 notice the stranger. But more and more came 

 bustling in, and the din and the hubbub were 

 so overwhelming that Lintie felt he must go at 

 all risks. He moved, was detected, and instantly 

 pounced upon. 



" Who are you ? What's your name ? What 

 are you doing in our roosting-bush ? What do 

 you want here ? No vulgar vagrants here ! 

 Take that, and that, and that ! " 



So they all shouted in chorus, pecking at him 

 the while, and the noise was so unusual that two 

 young men of the law, looking out of a first- 

 floor window in Lincoln's Inn Fields, took their 

 pipes out of their mouths and listened. 



" It's all over with me at last," thought Lintie ; 

 but he made one brave effort to escape, found 

 his way out of the bush, and flew into the open 

 roadway, pursued by half a hundred sparrows. 



" What in the world is up ? " said one of the 



