more he usually perched on a little knob just above the entrance and sang. Sometimes she came out on the ledge to listen. It was a winsome sight to see the bluebirds in their primitive home.
This was the bluebirds' second nesting on the farm. Their first one had been destroyed by the English sparrows. The boy said he had tried in every way to help the bluebirds, and that, whenever he saw any sparrows near, he gave a sharp whistle—his confidential whistle, he called it—and that Mrs. Bluebird got so she understood what it meant; that as soon as she heard it she would come up on the ledge and call, "Dear, dear-dear." Immediately Mr. Bluebird would appear and drive the intruders away.
These bluebirds were also annoyed by a red squirrel who climbed the trees in the orchard and peered into the nest holes. Mr. Bluebird dashed for him whenever he saw him, especially if he found him near the home tree. Sometimes both the bluebirds chased the red squirrel, who would run off barking like a little dog.
The boy had seen how I put out strings and cotton and chicken feathers, for the birds' nestings, and he had fixed up a "store"—as he called it—on a tree, where they could "buy without money." Every little while a goldfinch came and got some string. Always on coming he sang out, "Perchikatee," as if to say, "By your leave." Downy woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches were there at this time of
