he chalk away from his feathers
and then returned to his nest as black as ever.

All the birds were angry and dismayed when they found what had happened,
but none could imagine who had robbed the robins. Mrs. Robin, who was
not easily discouraged, built another nest and laid more eggs in it; but
the next day a second nest in the forest was robbed, and then another
and another, until the birds complained that Policeman Blue Jay did not
protect them at all.

"I can't understand it in the least," said the policeman, "for I have
watched carefully, and I know Jim Crow has never dared to come near to
your trees."

"Then some one else is the robber," declared the thrush fussily.

"The only stranger I have noticed around here is a big white bird,"
replied the Blue Jay, "and white birds never rob nests or eat eggs, as
you all know very well."

So they were no nearer the truth than before, and the thefts continued;
for each day Jim Crow would make himself white in the chalk-pit, fly
into the forest and destroy the precious eggs of some innocent little
bird, and afterward wash himself in some far-away brook, and return to
his nest chuckling with glee to think he had fooled the Blue Jay so
nicely.

But the Blue Jay, although stupid and unsuspecting at first, presently
began to get a little wisdom. He remembered that all this trouble had
commenced when the strange white bird first arrived in the forest; and
although it was doubtless true that white birds never eat eggs and have
honest reputations, he decided to watch this stranger and make sure that
it was innocent of the frightful crimes that had so aroused the dwellers
in the forest.

Chapter VII
Jim Crow is Punished

SO one day Policeman Blue Jay hid himself in some thick bushes until he
saw the big white bird fly by, and then he followed quietly after it,
flitting from tree to tree and keeping out of sight as much as possible,
until at last he saw the white bird alight near a bullfinch's nest and
eat up all the eggs it contained.

Then, ruffling his crest angrily, Policeman Blue Jay flew to attack the
big white robber, and was astonished to find he could not catch it. For
the white bird flew higher into the air than he could, and also flew
much faster, so that it soon escaped and passed out of sight.

"It must be a white crow," thought the Blue Jay; "for only a crow can
beat me at flying, and some of that race are said to be white, although
I have never seen on