he cat, and, relying too
confidently upon its powers of flight, sometimes swoops down so near
to its enemy that it is caught by a sudden stroke of the cat's paw. The
only case I know of in which our small birds fail to recognize their
enemy is furnished by the shrike; apparently the little birds do not
know that this modest-colored bird is an assassin. At least, I have
never seen them scold or molest him, or utter any outcries at his
presence, as they usually do at birds of prey. Probably it is because
the shrike is a rare visitant, and is not found in this part of the
country during the nesting season of our songsters.

But the birds have nearly all found out the trick the jay, and when he
comes sneaking through the trees in May and June in quest of eggs, he
is quickly exposed and roundly abused. It is amusing to see the robins
hustle him out of the tree which holds their nest. They cry "Thief,
thief!" to the top of their voices as they charge upon him, and the jay
retorts in a voice scarcely less complimentary as he makes off.

The jays have their enemies also, and need to keep an eye on their own
eggs. It would be interesting to know if jays ever rob jays, or crows
plunder crows; or is there honor among thieves even in the feathered
tribes? I suspect the jay is often punished by birds which are otherwise
innocent of nest-robbing. One season I found a jay's nest in a small
cedar on the side of a wooded ridge. It held five eggs, every one of
which had been punctured. Apparently some bird had driven its sharp beak
through their shells, with the sole intention of destroying them, for no
part of the contents of the eggs had been removed. It looked like a case
of revenge; as if some thrush or warbler, whose nest had suffered at
the hands of the jays, had watched its opportunity, and had in this way
retaliated upon its enemies. An egg for an egg. The jays were lingering
near, very demure and silent, and probably ready to join a crusade
against nest-robbers.

The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. The owl snatches them from
off their roosts at night, and gobbles up their eggs and young in their
nests. He is a veritable ogre to them, and his presence fills them with
consternation and alarm.

One season, to protect my early cherries I placed a large stuffed owl
amid the branches of the tree. Such a racket as there instantly began
about my grounds is not pleasant to think upon! The orioles and robins
fairly "shrieked ou