At Breakfast, Dinner, Tea, Supper. 15 



would like to try her hand at natural history. She 

 secured a supply of crumbs which she placed on the top 

 of the stick in front of the bird's head, and a pinch of 

 salt which she dejDosited on the end of the stick near 

 his tail, and then retired indoors to watch and wait, 

 judging that when the Sparrow turned up to break- 

 fast and began to peck the crumbs, in all probability 

 his tail would come in contact with the salt and 

 she would have him ! 



Town-bred birds, like toAvn-bred boys and girls, 

 have a very different notion of things from their 

 brothers and sisters in the country. For instance, 

 some bird lovers in the country, and especially on the 

 Continent, give their feathered friends a treat at 

 Christmas by fixing up an unthreshed sheaf of corn 

 in a convenient situation for the hungry creatures, 

 who are, of course, greatly delighted. An old friend 

 of mine, living in the northern suburbs of London, 

 thought he would give the birds a treat last Christ- 

 mas, and, after a considerable amount of trouble, 

 secured a sheaf of corn Avith the grain still attached 

 and fixed it up in his garden. The birds had never 

 seen such a thing before, and it scared them to 

 such an extent that they would not come near the 

 garden even, 



I have made some experiments on country birds 

 by dyeing corn blue and then offering it to them. 

 They simply would not touch it. 



Rooks are very wise on some points and very 

 unwise in regard to others. For instance, I have 



