THEIR FIRST YEAR’S MA.RRIED LIFE. 25 
meiit arid dismay, to find that their family had 
been increased, and by a young one evidently 
belonging to their neighbors, the Robins. Now 
it is all very well to take care of your own 
children and bring them up, but it is not so 
pleasant to have a child belonging to your 
neighbor thrust upon you. We know that the 
first thoughts with humans, in such an event, 
would be that their neighbors, grown weary 
with the care and trouble of rearing their 
young, had improved a favorable opportunity, 
and turned it over to them ; and, as birds and 
human beings often think alike, such was the 
conclusion jumped at instantly by both Brown 
and his indignant wife. 
In their anger and contempt, they were 
about thrusting the little one from their house, 
when who should at that moment chance along 
but Blue Jay, a noisy, conceited, mischief- 
making scamp, and an old enemy of the 
Thrushes, he once having been caught near 
their nest, evidently intending to steal their 
eggs. 
With a deceitful smile on his face — all mis- 
