116 IN AN OLD DESERTED GARDEN— 
ing bird must be seriously affected by cold, 
it does not leave the country in winter. 
The nest was, perhaps, a second one, as the 
birds build very early (even in March), and 
rear two or more broods each year. Is it 
because the hedge-sparrow is so inoffensive 
that the cuckoo takes special advantage of 
it and lays its eggs in its nest? We have 
seen that the homely little robin can bea great 
fighter with its own species, and it is said 
that the hedge-sparrow has also terrible con- 
tests with others of its kind. In both cases 
the birds do not seem to fear evenly-matched 
combatants, which is only fair fighting. 
We carefully searched all the thickets, 
but did not come upon any more nests, and 
afterwards learned that some boys had been 
seen in the garden from time to time, and 
then we knew the reason. Before leaving I 
got a nice photograph of the ivy-leaved 
climbing snap-dragon, a good deal of which 
grew on the old walls. Packing up the camera 
we wended our way to the little gate that 
had given us entrance. We could not help 
