I04 



Bluebird Dick. 



He rushed out and liopped sideways along 

 a limb, then sideways back again. Then the 

 mud house proprietor was notified. '' Chick! 

 chick ! chick I " shouted Robin rapidly, which 

 plainly meant, "Hurrah, old boy, and my 

 kind regards to Mrs. Dot." Then he car- 

 ried the news to Jennie. Suddenly he re- 

 membered that baby's mouth was open and 

 that it must be awfully hungry. 



Hard by on a lilac leaf pensively sat a 

 big, fat fly. All at once, in the twinkling 

 of an eye, its front legs were twirled to- 

 gether; then it turned a semi-handspring 

 and cleverly balanced, while the hindlegs 

 were slowly twisted over and down its back. 



Tradition holds that the wild swan '' sings 

 melodiously when near about expiring," 

 and the "death song of the Cherokee war- 

 rior has long since been recorded;" but the 

 agile fly, in this last great act, outshone 

 them all! 



" Isn't it a whopper," spluttered Dick, 

 marching proudly up with his mouth stuffed 

 full of baby's dinner, and that dinner half 

 as big as baby itself! " Go away, you fool- 

 ish bird," laughed Dot; "this little chap 

 doesn't need a bluebottle yet, and your wet 

 feathers might give him the colic, you know. " 

 Dick stared ruefully a moment, but good- 

 naturedly swallowed the fly and his disap- 

 pointment. " Say, Dot, what do you think 

 of naming the baby Jennie ? " " Oh, Jennie 

 sounds pretty nice, but I rather fancy the 

 name of Robin; don't you Dick?" Dick 

 stared somewhat ruefully again and hopped 

 out. "Now, if Oakie only knew this," 

 he thought, "I'd feel tip-top." 



IV. WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY 



THEY FIRST MAKE ANGRY. 



Exciting noon had passed away; then 

 evening quietly came, with Dick subdued 

 though happy. Full twenty times he had 

 rapped on the old stump; twenty times he 

 softly warbled there, but Oakie never 

 wakened. And now the blazing sun went 

 down and tinted the clouds with Dick's own 



lovely colors. Then Oakie yawned and 

 stretched one leg, but lazily pillowed his 

 head again on Brownie's shoulder. An 

 hour dragged by, then phantom lights and 

 shadows • struggled for the mastery, and 

 while the lark yet plaintively mourned of 

 parting day, the guttural twang of a great 

 frog foretold the reign of night. Then 

 Dick could wait no longer. 



" Oakie! Oak " — but what meant that cry 

 of distress ? One startled glance and Dick 

 was speeding homeward. Now hurry, 

 Dick, that swarm of hornets in your house 

 you'll find no common foes. Fly faster, 

 Dick! a single venomed sting would — and 

 Dick swooped down to the rescue. Alas! 

 too late for rescue now. Poor Dot lay 

 slowly gasping out her life, but faithful to 

 the last, her upraised wings still shielded 

 nest and babe. Swelling with rage and 

 grief, Dick turned for revenge. At every 

 stroke of that sharp beak an enemy fell, 

 and with alternate wings he dashed them 

 right and left; but for every one thus 

 stricken a dozen filled its place. They 

 buzzed fiercely round his head, crawled up 

 and bit and crippled his wings — and now 

 he fought for his own life. Inch by inch 

 they drove him back from the loved ones; 

 out of his own door, and further yet, until 

 he fell fluttering to the ground, and even 

 then they darted down and stung him 

 again and again. One faint struggle, and 

 those bruised and blinded eyes were strained 

 wistfully upward; then the wounded head 

 fell back, and when the moon looked down 

 upon that miniature battlefield, the brave 

 little broken heart beneath its coat of blue 

 had stopped beating altogether. 



Now, little folks, it is true that the hornets 

 killed the bluebirds; Ralph and Bobolink 

 know, and their playmates know it's true. 

 It is true that birds have hearts and brains; 

 they have natural affection and can suffer 

 pain. Do you call those insects cruel.-* 



