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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



in this country, perhaps partly owing to the compara- 

 tively small size it attains, though Evelyn remarks 

 that in his time, in Buckinghamshire, the trees were 

 adjudged to be timber, and as such were tithe free. 

 "The black cherry-wood," says he, "grows some- 

 times to that bulk that it is fit to make stools with, 

 cabinets and tables, especially the redder sort, which 

 will polish well, also pipes and musical instruments ; 

 the very bark is employed for beehives." 



A large species is found in America, Cerasus 

 Virginiana, the choke cherry ; according to Sir 

 Wm. Hooker, this tree sometimes attains a height of 

 eighty or one hundred feet. Its fruit is scarcely 

 edible in its fresh state, but dried it forms a valuable 

 addition to pemmican. The wood is esteemed 

 amongst the best by American cabinet-makers. 



Mary B. Morris. 



MY WINDOW PETS. 

 By E. H. Robertson. 



IT is very commonly stated, in works on natural 

 history, that two male robins are never to be found 

 dwelling in the same garden : a statement not in in- 

 variable accordance with fact, I having daily evidence 

 to the contrary, since no less than three pairs have 

 frequented my garden and orchard, and therein 

 nested, for certainly the past two or three years. 'Tis 

 true that they usually give one another a pretty wide 

 berth — except about feeding time — they, nevertheless, 

 frequently, at the same moment, hop about my lawn 

 in search of worms and scraps. 



One is a bird of most unusual size, so beautifully 

 soft plumaged that he more nearly resembles a painted 

 than a naturally feathered robin. His companions 

 are ordinary pugnacious specimens of Erythaca riihc- 

 aila, who generally indulge in a set-to somewhere 

 about dinner-time, the anticipation of a shared feast 

 stimulating them into pugnacity. After their daily 

 scrimmage, and the scattering of a few feathers, they 

 almost invariably alight on the pathway in front of 

 my window. Here, vis-a-vis, at a distance of about 

 two feet apart, they contemplate each other with 

 widely gaping beaks, emitting most peculiar sounds, 

 which appear to be cries of distress. Meanwhile, my 

 soft plumaged favourite makes the most of his short 

 opportunity, and bolts with incredible celerity the 

 choicest morsels, varying his performance occasion- 

 ally with a few flourishes of defiance. This is too 

 much for the already disturbed equanimity of the 

 combatants, who, animated by a common impulse, 

 unite to drive from the scene this jubilant onlooker. 

 He is a wise as well as a beautiful bird, and evidently 

 his feelings are in entire accord with the sentiment so 

 tersely expressed in the proverb, ' ' Discretion is the 

 better part of valour," for he beats a most precipitate 

 retreat, chased by his temporarily united foes, but 



soon returns to pour forth a few sweet triumphant 

 notes, and — finish his repast. 



As one instance out of many of this bird's tameness : 

 a short time since he was hopping and flitting most un- 

 concernedly about my drawing-room, at the same time 

 that a performer, with greater vigour than skill, was 

 extracting anything but harmony from a harmonium. 



Not yet have I succeeded in inducing him to take 

 food from my hand, although a short time since he 

 alighted on the edge of the plate of scraps I was con- 

 veying to the window-sill, its slipperiness so scaring 

 him that he has not since cared to repeat the experi- 

 ment. 



Knowing full well that a friendship forced is not 

 worth possessing, I strive, with gentlest arts, to win 

 the confidence of my pets, and well has this my most 

 trustful friend rewarded me by his remarkable attach- 

 ment to my person, being almost never absent when 

 I am in my garden. His favourite station is a cross 

 bar of a rustic archway spanning the path which in- 

 tersects my lawn. Here, when I am near, he warbles 

 forth in sweetly subdued notes his cheerful song, 

 evidently thinking it unnecessary to sing his loudest 

 when his hearer is so close. 'Tis the same when I 

 am gardening, and whilst, from some clod hard by, 

 he watches with keenest interest my several operations, 

 cheers me with his softest music. When planting 

 out, so persistent is he in his examination of the con- 

 tents of my trowel, that scarcely can I pursue my 

 work for fear of injury to his small personality. 



During the summer months my garden near the 

 house appears alive with young robins, and 'tis 

 ever a mystery to me that the several broods do not 

 get mixed up as they flit from tree to shrub, and from 

 shrub to tree. The incessant labour involved in the 

 providing for the inexorable demands of their voracious 

 offspring must severely tax the energies of the old 

 birds, for long after the young seem quite 'able to 

 shift for themselves they are still supplied with food 

 by their assiduous purveyors. I, last summer, felt 

 quite concerned for one poor mother, during the period 

 of incubation ; so weak did she become as to be quite 

 unable to stand upon the window-percb. having, as 

 it appeared, entirely lost the use of her legs ; the poor 

 dilapidated little wretch presenting, I should imagine, 

 an exact counterpart of the Jackdaw of Rheims after 

 the anathemas of the pious abbot had taken full effect 

 upon his devoted carcase. Yet, after the hatching of 

 her brood, this bird rapidly recovered. 



How the robin delights in a bath ; and be the 

 weather never so cold, water-butt, drain, or trickling 

 pump-spout are in turn eagerly laid under contribution. 



One small bird have I omitted to mention, as not 

 exactly falling under my designation of window pets ; 

 and yet, as he yearly builds his nest in a vine under 

 one of the upper angles of a false window over my 

 sitting-room, and is almost always before my window, 

 I bethink me that he too deserves to be classed with 

 my feathered friends. I allude to the spotted fly- 



