"I can say a good word for him," 

 Howard observed, ''he appreciates the 

 music of other birds. I have seen a 

 number of sparrows gathered about a 

 singing robin." 



"He's a murderer and a robber !" 

 cried Madge. "Two sparrows were seen 

 to take a young wren from its nest and 

 drop it in a barrel of rain water. On 

 examination six others were found to 

 have met a similar fate in the same bar- 

 rel. He steals blackberries, taking a 

 bite out of one and another until he 

 spoils more than he eats." 



"Sparrows," said Aunt Jane, "some- 

 times form committees usually four in 

 number, to punish transgressors. After 

 castigation is administered, all is for- 

 given and friendly relations are estab- 

 lished at once. 



"As regards good form," continued 

 Aunt Jane, "the martin is sometimes 

 at fault. A friend of mine watched a 

 flock plaster up the door of a box where 

 some wrens had commenced to build. 

 They used mud and succeeded in dis- 

 possessing the wrens. But these same 

 martins were themselves disturbed by 

 the too frequent appearance of a yellow 

 cat. They seemed to agree among 

 themselves to intimidate her. When the 

 cat again appeared, martin after martin 

 swooped down and successively gave 

 her a sharp peck on the back of the 

 head. The cat was frightened beyond 

 measure by this ungallant treatment 

 and suddenly disappeared. This she 

 continued to do for a long time when- 

 ever she saw a full representation of 

 martins in the yard." 



"What kind of a bird is the wood- 

 pecker?" Frank inquired. 



"He is very shy. He has remarkable 

 powers of vision and seems to be deter- 

 mined not to be plainly seen, as he keeps 

 the tree between himself and the observ- 

 er. He is a good carpenter and has 

 never been known to "go on a strike," 

 or rather is so enterprising that he is 

 always striking for a hiring. He has 

 one mortal enemy, the black snake. Last 

 summer there was a great commotion 

 among the birds on the lawn. A large 

 black snake was seen ascending a tree 

 in search of a redhead's nest. The 

 courageous blue jays came to the wood- 

 pecker's assistance and f^ew wildly about 



trying to strike the snake with their 

 wings. A long-handled hoe in the 

 hands of a workman, brought to the 

 ground the dreaded foe and soon red- 

 head was drumming in peace beside the 

 doorway of his imperiled nest, while the 

 blue jays viewed themselves with an air 

 of satisfaction, as if conscious they had 

 acted in a very neighborly way. It is 

 too bad, but truth compels me to admit 

 that the beautiful woodpecker some- 

 times behaves in a very disreputable 

 manner. In winter he not only deserts 

 his mate, leaving her to shift for herself, 

 but he has been seen actually to drive 

 her from his door." 



"The nuthatch has a better character 

 than that," observed Howard. "I know 

 he keeps his mate with him all winter 

 and shares his food and lodgings in the 

 most unselfish way." 



"The European quail is described as 

 being a wretched husband, abandoning 

 his wife to her fate at the end of the 

 honeymoon. Not so with our Ameri- 

 can game bird, bob white. He is a faith- 

 ful husband, a devoted father, always 

 spruce in his attire and unfailing in gal- 

 lant attentions to his little spouse. It 

 is not a mere fancy that he has been 

 heard to sing to her while she is on the 

 nest, not merely his usual 'bob white,' 

 but adding with emphasis 'your bob 

 white!' He assists at incubation and if 

 his mate gets killed, finishes the task. 

 There are few finer examples of parental 

 love than the mother feigning a broken 

 wing as she flutters along in attempts 

 to lure an intruder away from her nest. 

 When the family circle is broken by the 

 shot of the sportsman the rest of the 

 bevy keep up a wailing whistle till night- 

 fall in the attempt to reassemble the 

 lost members of the family." 



"If you say much more. Auntie," 

 cried the boys, "we will never want to 

 go shooting again. But do tell us about 

 some other birds." 



"Our gentle domestic dove does not 

 always display a dove-like disposition. 

 During nesting time she is occasionally 

 such a gadabout that she has to be 

 driven home with blows by her offended 

 spouse to attend to neglected household 

 afifairs. Of all the species of doves the 

 ground dove comes nearest to the popu- 

 lar idea of the character of the bird 



