ore puzzled
than ever. The cowbird was no longer under suspicion, for the big
brothers had not been able to fasten the guilt upon him, since his
feathers were always as sleek and shining as the coat of a curried
horse.

It was decided to poison a part of the milk for several nights and put
the rest carefully in the cupboard. This was done; but though morning
after morning the shelf was sprinkled as badly as ever, no dead body of
cat, bird, or wild animal was ever found in the kitchen to solve the
mystery. So a new plan was adopted, and tin pans were put upside down
over the crocks to keep the nightly visitor out.

This arrangement worked well for a week or more; then one morning there
was a terrific rattling and banging in the kitchen, followed by deathly
stillness. Certain that the disturber of the milk was at hand, the
entire family rushed pell-mell through the sitting-room and down the
entry to the kitchen door, which they flung wide open, and excitedly
peered in. On the floor lay a tin pan that had been knocked from its
place, and in one side of it was a large dent where it had struck the
stove in falling. The milk in the uncovered vessel was not disturbed,
and there was no sign of any living thing in the room.

Baffled and wondering, they returned to their beds. But the little girl,
before going back to hers, remained behind a moment to look for the
cowbird. At last she spied him, perched high up on the elbow of the
stovepipe. He was trembling violently, and his glossy, black feathers
were standing out--straight on end.

The neighbor woman, who dropped in that noon, made a suggestion that the
big brothers decided to act upon. She declared that the kitchen visitor
was a milk-snake, and that one night spent on the watch without a light
would prove her correct. So that very evening, the eldest brother,
wrapped in a buffalo robe and a pair of blankets, sat on a bench behind
the kitchen door, resolved to keep awake till morning in wait for the
mysterious disturber. The rest of the family prepared for bed, after
providing him with the musket, powder and buck-shot, and the
clothes-stick; and on looking in upon him before retiring, found him
sitting grimly in his corner, the musket leaning against one shoulder,
while upon the other perched the cowbird.

The sun was just rising next day when the little girl's mother awoke.
She was surprised at not having been aroused earlier by the noise of an
encounter, and, accompan