BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 13 



close as to actually threaten his life, he will re- 

 gard it with the greatest indifference or will 

 only be moved to anger at its presence. Here 

 was this nightingale singing in the rain, seeing 

 but not heeding me; while beneath the hedge, al- 

 most directly under the twig it sat on, a black 

 cat was watching it with luminous yellow eyes. 

 I did not see the cat at first, but have no doubt 

 that the nightingale had seen and knew that 

 it was there. High up on the tops of the 

 thorn, a couple of sparrows were silently 

 perched. Perhaps, like myself, *-hey had come 

 there to listen. After I had been standing mo- 

 tionless, drinking in that dulcet music for at least 

 five minutes, one of the two sparrows dropped 

 from the perch straight down, and alighting on 

 the bare wet ground directly under the night- 

 ingale, began busily pecking at something eatable 

 it had discovered. No sooner had he begun peck- 

 ing than out leaped the concealed cat on to him. 

 The sparrow fluttered wildly up from beneath 

 or between the claws, and escaped, as if by a 

 miracle. The cat raised itself up, glared round, 

 and, catching sight of me close by, sprang back 

 into the hedge and was gone. But all this time 



