so I
cleaned out the box.

We were anxious that the cat should have no chance to destroy our
little friend's second wife, so the box was suspended from a limb by a
wire over two feet in length. Five eggs were laid and the mother bird
began sitting. Then one night the cat {51} found out what was
happening. How she ever succeeded in her undertaking, I know not. She
must have started by climbing the tree and creeping out on the limb. I
have never seen a cat slide down a wire; nevertheless the next morning
the box was tenantless and the feathers of the second female were
scattered over the lawn. This time the Bluebird's heart seemed really
broken and his cries of lamentation filled the grove. Eleven days now
passed before a third soul-mate came to share his fortunes. We could
afford to take no more risks. On a sunny hillside in the garden the
cat was buried, and a few weeks later four little Bluebirds left the
lawn on their own wings.

_The Faithful Canada Geese._--Along the Atlantic Coast, where the
shooting of wildfowl is an important industry with many people, the
raising of Canada Geese is a common custom. Not only do these great
birds serve as food, but they play the part of decoys when their owners
go ahunting. They are genuine Wild Geese, some of them having been
{52} wounded and captured from the great flocks which frequent these
waters during the colder months of the year. They retain their wild
characteristics with great tenacity and it is necessary to keep them
pinioned to prevent their flying away to the North when in spring the
spirit of migration calls aloud to all the bird world.

[Illustration: Canada Geese Decoys]

{53}

The conduct of these decoys indicates that the losing of a mate is a
much more serious matter among them than with the Bluebird and others
of our small feathered friends. When a gander has chosen his goose and
she has accepted his advances, the pair remain constantly together,
summer and winter, as long as they live. If one is killed, many years
may elapse before the survivor selects another companion.

In Currituck County, North Carolina, there was not long ago a gander
that local tradition said was sixty-two years of age. The first thirty
years of his life he remained unmated and for the last thirty-two he
has been the proud possessor of a mate from whose side he has never
strayed.

These Geese do not mate readily, and a man who has a company of thirty
or forty m