At Breakfast, Dinner, Tea, Supper. ii 



Great Tits tried time after time to imitate their 

 lighter brethren, but never once succeeded in main- 

 taining their hold upon the kernel. But one, wiser 

 than the rest, did a much cleverer thing one day. 

 He stood on the stump, and, seizing the thread, 

 hauled it in reef by reef with his bill and feet until 

 he got the kernel to the top, when he held it down 

 and chipped his well-deserved reward oft" it. 



One day, whilst watching a Blue Tit feeding in my 

 garden, I saw a Kestrel Hawk come hovering over, and 

 directly the wee bird caught sight of him it dashed 

 straight at the window through which I was looking, 

 struck the glass, and fell stunned to the ground. I 

 ran out, secured it, and brought it indoors, where I 

 kept it until consciousness returned, when it occurred 

 to me to make a little experiment on it just to see 

 how far the fright had affected its appetite and nerves. 

 I painted the crown of its head vermilion, so that I 

 might recognise it again, and then released it. To 

 my surprise, the plucky little thing was back again 

 inside of an hour pecking away as merrily as ever. 



For the Thrushes, Blackbirds, Sparrows, and Robins 

 we have a large table made of a hummock of snow, 

 when there is any on the ground, with a hollow 

 in the centre. In this we place soaked dog 

 biscuits, greatly to the delight of all our feathered 

 customers. The Robins, of course, dash in in their 

 own perky way, and commence to help themselves 

 without any kind of ceremony. Not so the sly, 

 suspicious old Sparrows. They sit on garden fence 



