THE FEAST OF VEGETABLES 115 



overhead in just the exact and spicily delicious 

 state of pre-ripeness that I like. Above in the tree 

 the birds see that none go to waste, but below 

 many fall to the ground in that over-ripeness which 

 has given the mulberry a poor reputation. 



Writing of birds reminds me that last year the 

 blackbirds, otherwise called the purple grackles, 

 and more often and quite properly called a con- 

 founded nuisance, departed in a body on July first. 

 Their absence is most gratifying; for their habits 

 are not nice, their noise is most unmelodious, 

 and their impudence quite aggravating. I have 

 been awakened at three o'clock in the morning by 

 the beginning of their squawking overture, the last 

 notes of which had been heard long after sun- 

 down the night before. When hundreds have set- 

 tled at once in the "front" horse-chestnut, the 

 hose has been turned upon them, to their enjoy- 

 ment; and a vicious-looking moving scarecrow in 

 the big sycamore merely formed for them a satis- 

 factory roost. My bird-friends, the inveterate 

 Audubonists Mrs. Wright and Mr. Chapman, 

 both recommend a shot-gun; but here my nerve 

 fails ! 



These grackles have not been able either to 

 scare away or starve out all the other and better 

 birds. The many robins that have evidently con- 



