172 



RECREATION. 



dous shake. As the weather grew warm he 

 flew in and out at will. Horses grazed 

 sometimes in the yard, and left deep, cuppy 

 tracks in the turf. When the spring rains 

 made of those tracks little clear pools Tom 

 Coffin made a point of bathing in every 

 pool. He sank his little red body clear 

 under water, spread his wings, lay down, 

 now on this side, now on that, wallowing 

 as a fowl wallows in dust, but always keep- 

 ing his head out, and whirling round and 

 round so as to look on every side of him. 



Tom would have been perfectly happy 

 in captivity but for the fact that he had a 

 skulking enemy, a pestilent fellow who 

 lived behind something white and clear 

 and hard, who mimicked every motion 

 Tom made, even to rushing at him with 

 lowered wings, ruffled crest and open bill. 

 Notwithstanding, Tom could never get at 

 him. After a dozen ineffectual rushes, the 

 first time he discovered this mocker, Tom 

 walked first to one side, then the other, 

 of the hard, white, shining thing that kept 

 them apart, peeped behind it several 

 times, then turned away puzzled, only to 

 find as he walked back in front of the 

 white thing that the bird he could not find 

 was there again. After 2 or 3 further in- 

 effectual rushes, Tom withdrew a little 

 way, scolding loudly. He saw the other 

 bird also scolding, raising and lowering 

 his crest, his throat pulsing in a loud clut- 

 tering skirl. Tom turned his back con- 

 temptuously on the coward, flew off to 

 his cage, hopped upon the highest perch 

 there, and sang his loudest and most tri- 

 umphant song, stopping every little 

 while to hear if the other bird was also 

 singing. At length, however, he be- 

 came satisfied that the other fellow was 

 out of it, and though he never failed to 

 fight a bit when the 2 came face to face, 

 it was evidently not a real battle; only a 

 sham one to save the situation. After a 

 dash or 2 Tom flew away, to a tree out- 

 side, or to the top of a tall window, seem- 

 ing to say in song, "Really, that fellow is 

 beyond endurance, but you see I have 

 punished him as he deserves." 



A red winged blackbird made himself 

 exceedingly conspicuous about the house, 

 and more especially in the marsh below the 

 orchard, during a part of Tom's sojourn in 

 the family. He seemed to take delight in 

 bantering and teasing Tom, though he may 

 not have meant his visits in that way. His 

 call seemed discordant and defiant, what- 

 ever his meaning may have been. Tom was 

 always ready to accept the challenge, if it 

 were such, and that no battle was really 

 fought was due to the fact that this red 

 winged visitor seemed to believe in the old 

 adage that the bird that calls and flies away 

 may live to call another day. 



Tom's courtship was high comedy with 

 a tragic ending. In April his cage was 



swung in a damson tree some little way 

 from the front porch and the door was 

 propped open. Tom slept in the cage every 

 night, though by daylight he ranged the 

 whole orchard, garden and hedge row. 



FLIRTING. 



The second day outside his mistress found 

 him flirting with a small, very shy. 

 browny red person, who flitted out of 

 sight almost the minute she was seen. 



A BED OF ROSE LEAVES. 



But she came almost to the cage with 

 Tom when he sought his perch, and 

 answered his sleepy love calls in plaintive 



