IO4 Bird-keeping. 



cotton wool ; and although the birds did not build in 

 it at first, a Blue Titmouse took possession of it for 

 roosting in, when the cold weather returned, and the 

 next spring a pair began to built in it> laid seven eggs, 

 and hatched them in due time. The hen was so. tame 

 that she would allow herself to be carried about in the 

 husk while sitting on her eggs, hissing and setting up 

 her feathers when touched, but never flying off. Her 

 mate brought her a green caterpillar every four or five 

 minutes, and occasionally took her place on the nest. 

 When the young birds were hatched, the caterpillars 

 were brought to the nest almost every two minutes, 

 from early morning till late at night When all but 

 one had flown, the lady detained it for a few hours, to 

 take its portrait in water-colours, and after holding it 

 in her hand awhile, put it into a cage, and the old birds 

 fed it through the wires, till she released it. This spring 

 the same pair, as she supposed, returned to the husk, 

 and have a family in it again. They quite understand 

 her kind feeling towards them, and are undisturbed 

 even by a large outside blind which is put down over 

 the window and covers the husk. She tells me the 

 Titmice do not resort to the basket of fat during the 

 hot weather, but if a cold day intervenes they eat it 

 eagerly, apparently requiring the caloric supplied by 

 the fat during the cold. Robins, Thrushes, Sparrows, 

 and Finches continually visit the basket also during 

 the winter. 



