THE BIRD OF THE STREET. 199 



with them, they confined themselves to threats 

 and annoyings, while he kept still. 



He did not seem to mind their demonstra- 

 tions so long as they did not actually touch 

 him. Many times in that thirty-six hours I 

 looked at his quaint, wise-looking little face, as 

 it turned this way and that to look with inter- 

 est at the howling and shrieking rabble about 

 him, undismayed by the confusion, though it 

 must have been sadly trying to his peace-loving 

 soul. But the next morning he was gone, hav- 

 ing waited till the noisy crowd was asleep, and 

 then " silently stolen away." 



Next to the sparrow's mobbing propensity is 

 his impudence. Not only will he insist on 

 sharing the food of chickens and domestic ani- 

 mals, but he is a common guest at the table of 

 the great bald eagles in the parks, and does not 

 disdain the crumbs that fall from the repast of 

 the polar bear, one touch of whose paw would 

 flatten him like a wafer. 



Perhaps the most saucy thing reported of a 

 sparrow was witnessed in Brooklyn by a well- 

 known artist. He was watching a robin hard at 

 work on the lawn, gathering food for his family, 

 when he noticed a sparrow, who also seemed in- 

 terested in the operation. The sparrow looked 

 on, evidently with growing excitement, while 

 one bit after another was uncovered, till at last 



