WOOD AND WASTE 95 



powerful beaks, even seeming to have a 

 special pleasure in experimenting on the 

 rarer plants. 



The birds soon took to their new quarters 

 and learnt that where the hens could go 

 they, too, were undisturbed. 



The close proximity of the fowls was at 

 first a great attraction, and it was amusing 

 to watch the younger birds grovelling before 

 some quite phlegmatic old hen or chased by 

 a fowl indignant at the heathen adulation 

 offered her. ''Toddy," ''Jack," and "Gill" 

 were often indeed hunted and pretty severely 

 handled. Budget never got into any bad 

 scrape, but with superior wisdom soon learnt 

 to discriminate. The timid fowls she bullied ; 

 on one occasion an utterly cowed hen was 

 rescued from beneath a pile of firewood. 

 Budget standing sentinel over her and ready 

 again to pull her feathers out on the first 

 attempt at escape. Towards the bolder 

 Orpingtons, and especially towards the 

 roosters, her attitude was more respectful, 

 and upon their approach she would retire 

 to her coign of vantage, the honeysuckle 



