[CHAPTER VII] _The Bluejay's Story_
"There is no more faithful mother in the forest than the blue titmouse,which is a cousin to the chickadee," continued the policeman, "and thisspring Tom Titmouse and his wife Nancy set up housekeeping in a littlehollow in an elm-tree about half a mile north of this spot. Of course,the first thing Nancy did was to lay six beautiful eggs--white withbrown spots all over them--in the nest. Tom was as proud of these eggsas was Nancy, and as the nest was hidden in a safe place they flew awaytogether to hunt for caterpillars, and had no thought of danger. But ontheir return an hour later what was their sorrow to find the nestempty, and every pretty egg gone. On the ground underneath the treewere scattered a few bits of shell; but the robber was nowhere to beseen.
"Tom Titmouse was very indignant at this dreadful crime, and came to meat once to complain of the matter; but of course I had no idea who haddone the deed. I questioned all the birds who have ever been known toslyly steal eggs, and every one denied the robbery. So Nancy Titmousesaw she must lay more eggs, and before long had another six speckledbeauties in the bottom of her nest.
"They were more careful now about leaving home; but the danger seemedpast. One bright, sunny morning they ventured to fly to the brook todrink and bathe themselves, and on their return found their homedespoiled for a second time. Not an egg was left to them out of thesix, and while Nancy wept and wailed Tom looked sharply around him andsaw a solitary shrike sitting on a limb not far away."
"What's a shrike?" asked Chubbins.
"It is a bird that looks a good deal like that mocking-bird sittingnext you; but it bears a bad character in the forest and has earned thevile name of 'butcher-bird.' I admit that I am always obliged to keepan eye upon the shrike, for I expect it to get into mischief at anytime. Well, Tom Titmouse naturally thought the shrike had eaten Nancy'seggs, so he came to me and ordered me to arrest the robber. But theshrike pleaded his innocence, and I had no proof against him.
"Again Nancy, with true motherly courage and perseverance, laid hereggs in the nest; and now they were never left alone for a singleminute. Either she or Tom was always at home, and for my part I watchedthe shrike carefully and found he did not fly near the nest of thetitmice at all.
"The result of our care was that one fine day the eggs hatched out, andsix skinny little titmice, with big heads and small bodies, werenestling against Nancy's breast. The mother thought they werebeautiful, you may be sure, and many birds gathered around tocongratulate her and Tom, and the brown thrush sang a splendid song ofwelcome to the little ones.
"When the children got a little stronger it did not seem necessary toguard the nest so closely, and the six appetites required a good manyinsects and butterfly-eggs to satisfy them. So Tom and Nancy both flewaway to search for food, and when they came back they found, to theirhorror, that their six little ones had been stolen, and the nest wasbare and cold. Nancy nearly fainted with sorrow, and her cries werepitiful and heart-rending; but Tom Titmouse was dreadfully angry, andcame to me demanding vengeance.
"'If you are any good at all as a policeman,' said he, 'you willdiscover and punish the murderer of my babies.'
"So I looked all around and finally discovered, not far from the nestof the titmice, four of their children, all dead and each one impaledupon the thorn of a bush that grew close to the ground. Then I decidedit was indeed the shrike, for he has a habit of doing just this thing;killing more than he can eat and sticking the rest of his murderedvictims on thorns until he finds time to come back and devour them.
"I was also angry, by that time; so I flew to the shrike's nest andfound him all scratched and torn and his feathers plucked in manyplaces.
"'What has happened to you?' I asked.
"'I had a fight with a weasel last night,' answered the shrike, 'andboth of us are rather used up, today.'
"'Still,' said I, sternly, 'you had strength enough to kill the sixlittle titmice, and to eat two of them.'
"'I never did,' said he, earnestly; 'my wings are too stiff to fly.'
"'Do not lie about it, I beg of you,' said I; 'for we have found fourof the dead titmice stuck on the thorns of a bush, and your people havebeen known to do such things before.'
"At this the shrike looked worried.
"'Really,' said he, 'I cannot understand it. But I assure you I aminnocent.'
"Nevertheless, I arrested him, and made him fly with me to the JudgmentTree, where all the birds had congregated. He was really stiff andsore, and I could see it hurt him to fly; but my duty was plain. Weselected a jury of twelve birds, and Judge Bullfinch took his seat on abough, and then the trial began.
"Tom Titmouse accused the shrike of murder, and so did Nancy, who hadnearly cried her eyes out. I also gave my evidence. But the prisonerinsisted strongly that he was innocent, and claimed he had not left hisnest since his fight with the weasel, and so was guiltless of thecrime.
"But no one had any sympathy for him, or believed what he said; for itis often the case that when one has earned a bad character he isthought capable of any wickedness. So the jury declared him guilty, andthe judge condemned him to die at sundown. We were all to fall upon theprisoner together, and tear him into bits with bill and claw; but whilewe waited for the sun to sink Will Sparrow flew up to the Judgment Treeand said:
"'Hello! What's going on here?'
"'We are just about to execute a criminal,' replied the judge.
"'What has he been doing?' asked Will, eyeing the shrike curiously.
"'He killed the titmice children this morning, and ate two of them, andstuck the other four upon a thorn bush,' explained the judge.
"'Oh, no; the shrike did not do that!' cried Will Sparrow. 'I saw thecrime committed with my own eyes, and it was the cunning weasel--theone that lives in the pine stump--that did the dreadful murder.'
"At this all the birds set up an excited chatter, and the shrike againscreamed that he was innocent. So the judge said, gravely: 'WillSparrow always speaks the truth. Release the prisoner, for we havemisjudged him. We must exact our vengeance upon the weasel.'
"So we all flew swiftly to the pine stump, which we knew well, and whenwe arrived we found the weasel sitting at the edge of his hole andlaughing at us.
"'That is the very weasel I fought with,' said the shrike. 'You can seewhere I tore the fur from his head and back with my sharp beak.'
"'So you did,' answered the weasel; 'and in return I killed the littletomtits.'
"'Did you stick them on the thorns?' asked Judge Bullfinch.
"'Yes,' said the weasel. 'I hoped you would accuse the shrike of themurder, and kill him to satisfy my vengeance.'
"'We nearly fell into the trap,' returned the judge; 'but Will Sparrowsaw your act and reported it just in time to save the shrike's life.But tell me, did you also eat Nancy Titmouse's eggs?'
"'Of course,' confessed the weasel, 'and they were very good, indeed.'
"Hearing this, Tom Titmouse became so excited that he made a furiousdash at the weasel, who slipped within his hole and escaped.
"'I condemn you to death!' cried the judge.
"'That's all right,' answered the weasel, sticking just the tip of hisnose out of the hole. 'But you've got to catch me before you can killme. Run home, my pretty birds. You're no match for a weasel!'
"Then he was gone from sight, and we knew he was hidden safely in thestump, where we could not follow him, for the weasel's body is slim andslender. But I have not lived in the forest all my life withoutlearning something, and I whispered a plan to Judge Bullfinch that metwith his approval. He sent messengers at once for the ivory-billedwoodpeckers, and soon four of those big birds appeared and agreed tohelp us. They began tearing away at the stump with their strong beaks,and the splinters flew in every direction. It was not yet dark when thecunning weasel was dragged from his hole and was at the mercy of thebirds he had so cruelly offended. We fell upon him in a flash, and hewas dead almost instantly."
"What became of the shrike?" asked Twinkle.
/> "He left the forest the next day," answered Policeman Bluejay. "Foralthough he was innocent of this crime, he was still a butcher-bird,and he knew our people had no confidence in him."
"It was lucky Will Sparrow came in time," said the girl-lark. "But allthese stories must have made you hungry, so I'd like to invite myguests to have some refreshments."
The birds seemed much surprised by this invitation, and even PolicemanBluejay wondered what she was going to do. But Twinkle whispered toChubbins, and both the bird-children flew into their basket andreturned with their claws full of cookie. They repeated the journeymany times, distributing bits of the rare food to all of the birds whohad visited them, and each one ate the morsel eagerly and declared thatit was very good.
"Now," said the policeman, when the feast was over, "let us all go tothe brook and have a drink of its clear, sweet water."
So they flew away, a large and merry band of all sizes and colors; andthe child-larks joined them, skimming the air as lightly and joyouslyas any of their new friends. It did not take them long to reach asparkling brook that wound its way through the forest, and all thefeathered people drank their fill standing upon the low bank or uponstones that rose above the level of the water.
At first the children were afraid they might fall into the brook; butpresently they gained courage, and when they saw the thrush andbullfinch plunge in and bathe themselves in the cool water Chubbinsdecided to follow their example, and afterward Twinkle also joinedthem.
The birds now bade the child-larks good-bye and promised to call uponthem again, and soon all had flown away except the bluejay, who said hewould see Twinkle and Chubbins safe home again, so that they would notget lost.
They thanked him for this kindness, and when they had once more settledupon the limb beside their nest the bluejay also bade them good nightand darted away for one last look through the forest to see that allwas orderly for the night.