ing shut up in a room, my blue jay had
to find things to do, to keep himself busy. If he had been allowed to
grow up out of doors, he would have found plenty to do, planting acorns
and nuts, nesting, and bringing up families.

Sometimes the things he did in the house were what we call mischief
because they annoy us, such as hammering the woodwork to pieces, tearing
bits out of the leaves of books, working holes in chair seats, or
pounding a cardboard box to pieces. But how is a poor little bird to
know what is mischief?

Many things which Jakie did were very funny. For instance, he made it
his business to clear up the room. When he had more food than he
could eat at the moment, he did not leave it around, but put it away
carefully,--not in the garbage pail, for that was not in the room, but
in some safe nook where it did not offend the eye. Sometimes it was
behind the tray in his cage, or among the books on the shelf. The places
he liked best were about me,--in the fold of a ruffle or the loop of
a bow on my dress, and sometimes in the side of my slipper. The very
choicest place of all was in my loosely bound hair. That, of course, I
could not allow, and I had to keep very close watch of him, for fear I
might have a bit of bread or meat thrust among my locks.

In his clearing up he always went carefully over the floor, picking
up pins, or any little thing he could find, and I often dropped burnt
matches, buttons, and other small things to give him something to do.
These he would pick up and put nicely away.

Pins Jakie took lengthwise in his beak, and at first I thought he had
swallowed them, till I saw him hunt up a proper place to hide them. The
place he chose was between the leaves of a book. He would push a pin far
in out of sight, and then go after another. A match he always tried to
put in a crack, under the baseboard, between the breadths of matting, or
under my rockers. He first placed it, and then tried to hammer it in
out of sight. He could seldom get it in far enough to suit him, and this
worried him. Then he would take it out and try another place.

Once the blue jay found a good match, of the parlor match variety. He
put it between the breadths of matting, and then began to pound on it
as usual. Pretty soon he hit the unburnt end and it went off with a loud
crack, as parlor matches do. Poor Jakie jumped two feet into the air,
nearly frightened out of his wits; and I was frightened, too, for I
feared he