MY NEIGHBOUR’S BIRD STORIES 81 
by, about two hours after the commotion, they 
both flew away to the fields together, and no 
sooner were they gone than the bird they had 
robbed, keeping guard on his tree, flew straight 
to the nest they had left, and after what appeared 
like a careful examination took hold of a stick 
and tugged vigorously until he succeeded in pulling 
it out. With the stick in his beak he flew back 
to his nest and proceeded to adjust it in the 
fabric. 
What would happen now, Mr. Redburn asked, 
when the dishonest couple came back and dis- 
covered that they had been deprived of their loot? 
He watched for their return with keen interest, and 
by and by they came, and, to his astonishment, 
nothing happened. They settled on their nest, 
looked it over in the usual way to see that it was 
as they had left it, and although they no doubt 
saw that it was not so they made no fuss. 
The most remarkable thing in all this affair was, 
to Mr. Redburn’s mind, that the robbed birds 
appeared to know so well who the thief was and 
where the stick could be looked for. 
To me it was remarkable that my neighbour, 
who “knew nothing about birds,” had yet, in one 
day’s watching, succeeded in seeing something 
which throws a stronger light on the law of the 
rookery than any single observation contained in 
the ornithological books. 
In this case, as he relates it, the robbed birds 
appeared to know very well who the culprits were 
