OTHER NEIGHBORS IN THE TREES. 233 



a contest, screaming, biting, and pulling out feathers ; and 

 at length, in many instances, the birds, lost in rage, would 

 actually fall to the ground. For two days this fight con- 

 tinued. At length the jays disappeared, and I have not 

 seen half a dozen individuals on my farm since that period. 

 A numerous colony of crow-blackbirds have reared their 

 young there during the two past seasons, and have been 

 equally assiduous in collecting worms of different species. 

 Whether the abandoning of the locality -by the jays was 

 owing exclusively to the intrusion of the blackbirds, or in 

 part to the scarcity of their favorite bag- worms, I can not 

 well determine. _ JareJ R Rmmd _ 



SUMMARY JUSTICE. 



1. In his later years the celebrated Cuvier loved to re- 

 count the incident which first turned his attention to the 

 study of natural history. While young, and in want, he 

 was engaged as tutor, and with his pupils inhabited an old 

 chateau in the country. Cuvier's room looked toward the 

 garden, and early each morning he was accustomed to open 

 his window and breathe the fresh air before commencing 

 the instruction of his somewhat undisciplined pupils. One 

 morning he remarked two swallows building a nest in the 

 outer angle of his small casement. The male bird brought 

 moist clay in his beak, which the hen, as it were, kneaded 

 together, and, with the addition of straws and bits of hay, 

 formed their future home. Once the frame-work was 

 completed, both birds hastened to line the interior with 

 feathers, wool, and dried leaves ; and then taking flight 

 together into a neighboring wood, they did not return to 

 their nest until after the lapse of several days. 



2. Meantime, some important events had happened. 



