THE BABIES AT LAST. 91 



to speak with a defiant squawk, a warning to 

 come no nearer. 



"Ah ha! " said I, exultingly, "are your little 

 folk in there? Then I shall see them." 



I slowly -advanced; she disputed my passage 

 at every step, but nothing was to be seen till her 

 anxiety got the better of her discretion and she 

 herself gave me the precious secret; she sud- 

 denly slipped through the trees to the other side, 

 and became perfectly silent. 



I could not follow her path through the tangle 

 of trees, but I could go around, and I did. On 

 a dead spruce wedged in among the living ones 

 I saw the object of her solicitude; a lovely sight 

 it was ! Two young blue jays huddled close to- 

 gether on a twig. They were "humped up," 

 with heads drawn down into their shoulders, and 

 breast feathers fluffed out like snowy-white floss 

 silk, completely covering their feet and the perch. 

 No wonder that poor little mother was anxious, 

 for a more beautiful pair I never saw, and to see 

 them was to long to take them in one's hands. 



Silent and patient little fellows they appeared, 

 looking at me with innocent eyes, but showing 

 no fear. They were a good deal more con- 

 cerned about something to eat, and when their 

 mother came they reminded her by a low peep 

 that they were still there. She gave them no- 

 thing ; she was too anxious to get them out of 



