BIRDS. 



BIRD ENEMIES. 



How surely the birds know their enemies ! Se€ 

 ihow the wrens and robins and bluebirds pursue and 

 scold the cat, while they take little or no notice of the 

 dog ! Even the swallow will fight the cat, and, re- 

 lying too confidently upon its powers of flight, some- 

 times swoops down so near to its enemy that it is 

 caught by a sudden stroke of the cat's paw. The 

 only case I know of in which our small birds fail to 

 recognize their enemy is furnished by the shrike ; ap- 

 parently the little birds do not know that this modest- 

 colored bird is an assassin. At least, I have never 

 seen them scold or molest him, or utter any outcries 

 at his presence, as they usually do at birds of prey. 

 Probably it is because the shrike is a rare visitant, 

 and is not found in this part of the country during 

 the nesting season of our songsters. 



But the birds have nearly all found out the trick 

 of the jay, and when he comes sneaking through the 

 trees in May and June in quest of eggs, he is quickly 

 exposed and roundly abused. It is amusing to see 

 the robins hustle him out of the tree which holds their 

 nest. They cry " Thief, thief ! " to the top of their 

 voices as they charge upon him, and the jay retorts in 

 a voice scarcely less complimentary as he makes off. 



