SMALL FOLK WITH LIVELY FEET. 26Y 



butterauts were getting on. I knew very well what 

 he was after, however, and noticed how slyly he 

 sprang to one of the lower limbs which led in the di- 

 rection of the nest. Ho sooner had he done this than 

 the father bird, who was at least thirty yards away 

 in a maple tree, made for him, and immediately there 

 was a great commotion among the butternut leaves. 

 In the midst of it the mother bird appeared with a 

 hard-shelled bug in her mouth, which she dropped, 

 and I heard it rattle down the arbor roof. Up and 

 down, in and out among the leaves the birds chased 

 the little scamp, and still he tried to elude the sharp 

 bills, but vainly ; it was perfectly plain that the 

 birds had the best of it, and that bunny's agility was 

 no match for such a terrific winged onslaught. He 

 fled at last in great confusion ; but the birds did not 

 desist, and in his frantic attempts to defend himself 

 he lost his hold and fell from limb to limb, until he 

 landed on the arbor roof. Before he could recover 

 himself the robins were at him again, and it was a 

 ruiming fight all the way to the neighboring pasture 

 bars, where the birds gave up the chase and returned 

 to their tree. It was amusing directly after to see 

 the male bird station himself like a sentinel in a 

 maple that adjoined the butternut. But it was just 

 as well, for he had to defend the nest a third time 

 before the fledglings were flown. 



