First Edition
CONTENTS
- I. [Chaik and Tad Make Themselves at Home]
- II. [An Evening Party at the Thomson’s House]
- III. [Chaik Makes Discoveries About the Holes Men Live In]
- IV. [Dr. Muskrat’s Adventures in the Barn]
- V. [Further Doings of the Woodsfolk at the Barn]
- VI. [A Hungry Villain Fills Himself—But Only with Fright]
- VII. [Killer the Weasel in a Weary Round of Troubles]
- VIII. [Killer Finally Reaches Mouse-Heaven]
- IX. [Mrs. Tabitha Puss-cat’s Secret]
- X. [Many Things Thrashed Out]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- [Louie Thomson and his tame Jay Bird]
- [Tad catches the rat that was killing the chickens]
- [Chaik begins to find out that living with house-folks is really great fun]
- [Doctor Muskrat examines the White Cow’s drinking pond]
- [Doctor Muskrat makes friends with the ducks]
- [Killer wasn’t enjoying his visit to the Woods and Fields a bit]
- [Killer climbs the big hickory tree after Chatter Squirrel]
- [The Woodsfolk began bursting out of the straw pile, in and out and up and down]
The Jay Bird Who Went Tame
CHAPTER I
CHAIK AND TAD MAKE THEMSELVES AT HOME
Prob’ly you’re all wondering what happened to Chaik Jay and Tad Coon when the big rain began to fall. Chaik had hurt his wing. He’d have had a bad time with it if he’d tried to stay in the pickery thorn bush, in the Quail’s Thicket, down by Dr. Muskrat’s Pond. Tad Coon knew a thing or two when he advised the bird to let Louie Thomson catch him. Well, when Louie burst into his mother’s kitchen with Chaik holding on tight to his fat, warm finger he was ’most bursting with pride. You know just how you’d feel if you were Louie. Chaik felt just a little fluttery, but he knew he was safe so long as the little boy held him. He waved his well wing and put up his crest, but he never let go his hold on the funniest perch he’d ever sat on.
Of course, Louie’s mother forgot all about the supper she was cooking. “Oh, wherever did you catch him?” she asked. “Isn’t he a pretty thing? I never knew they had purple on their necks—just like grapes hanging in the sun. How do you s’pose he keeps all that white in his wings so clean?”
“He takes a bath every morning,” said Louie. “I’ve seen him.”