6 SOME BIRDS AND A TOWN GARDEN 
most. The kingcups by the water’s edge 
(their home) are green in round bold button- 
like buds, the leaves almost fully expanded. 
Almond trees are in flower, and so are aucubas 
and the box, and the cherry is almost so. 
The yellow scentless jessamine is past, but 
the delicious scented white one has not yet 
moved. Horsechestnut buds stand up four 
inches, looking like huge Christmas trees 
with many candles upon them. The rough 
brown leaf buds of the ash are evident. All 
this proves that spring is here at last, and 
the birds have not failed to mark the change 
of season. Starlings have long been busy 
nesting. Ina blackbird’s nest which I have 
seen in a neighbour’s garden the young are 
already hatched. Near by a nest has been 
observed tended by both a blackbird and a 
thrush. My informant tells me that the 
young birds which have been hatched are 
very peculiar. This was a case of the mat- 
ing of these two birds, which sometimes 
occurs. 
I have not yet found out where our robins 
