i8 



of Sparrows at no great distance from the bench, or 

 garden seat, on which I sat. They were so intent on 

 their occupation, whatever it was, that they seemed to 

 ignore my presence altogether, and for some time I 

 could not make out what they were doing, but it 

 soon became evident that they had a nest not far off, 

 and on watching them more closely, I was enabled to 

 locate it in a withered oak about ten paces to my left. 

 There were young ones in it, for I could hear a faint 

 chirping each time one of the old birds popped into 

 the crevice in the bark where they had built their 

 domicile, and as one or other of the parent birds did 

 this about every two or three minutes, the nestlings 

 must have been pretty hungry, and the wherewithal to 

 satisfy the craving of their appetite not very far to 

 seek, nor very difficult to find. 



Of what did the pabulum consist? There were 

 no green peas about, nor cherries, not a gooseberry 

 even, a crocus or a primrose ; no wheat, nor cereal of 

 any kind, and yet those young Sparrows were being 

 fed, and fed freely too, with some sort of food that 

 they appeared, to judge by their chirping and the 

 constant attention of the parents, to appreciate. 



Both the old birds were engaged in the task of 

 feeding the young ones, but the mother was the more 

 successful forager of the two, for she visited, and no 

 doubt fed her offspring three times to once that her 

 mate did. If she happened to be in the nest-hole 

 when he arrived, instead of waiting, as a good father 

 and husband should have done, until she came out 

 again, he swallowed whatever he had in his bill and 

 flew away, unless he stayed to philander with another 

 lady sparrow, of which there were a numi)er about the 

 place, which shows that as well as being a thief and 

 lazy, he had not much to boast of in the way of 

 morals. 



Well, it was interesting, and I remained an 



