AFRAID OF A TREE. 201 



the bird came near, it lifted its wings, plainly 

 to scare its persecutor ; it did awe him. Mean- 

 while an orchard oriole had been eagerly look- 

 ing on, and on one occasion that the grasshopper 

 was dropped he pounced upon it and carried it 

 off to a chair, where he proceeded to eat it, 

 though it was so big as to be almost unmanage- 

 able. The jay did not like being deprived of 

 his plaything. He ran after the thief, and 

 stood on the floor, uttering a low cry while 

 watching the operation. In the oriole's moving 

 the clumsy insect fell to the floor, when the jay 

 snatched it ; and it was evident that he had got 

 a new idea about its use, for he carried it under 

 a chair and demolished it completely, not 

 even a wing remained. 



More disturbing to the jay, strange as it may 

 seem, was a tree. It was really touching to see 

 a bird afraid of this, but the poor youngster had 

 been taken from the nest to a house. A Christ- 

 mas tree was brought into the bird-room to 

 please the residents there, when, to our amaze- 

 ment, the jay went into a wild fright, flew 

 madly around near the ceiling, squawking, and 

 making the other birds think something terri- 

 ble had happened. He flew till he was breath- 

 less, and was evidently very much distressed. 

 For three or four days he was equally alarmed 

 the moment he caught sight of it in the morn- 



