CHAFFINCHES 65 



pair I suppose, but they are more timid than any 

 other bird), three or four chaffinches, one hedge- 

 sparrow, and any number of house-sparrows. 

 Very distinct characters, all of them. The 

 chaffinches I can now distinguish from one 

 another. One I call Flick, one Schmuck, but the 

 old one who comes most constantly and flies to 

 catch what I throw to him I call Old Joe. He is 

 cross and covetous, and I think he overfeeds 

 himself and is getting gouty ; he hops with 

 great difficulty. To-day, however, I interrupted 

 a stand-up fight between him and one of the 

 nuthatches. Few birds will challenge a nuthatch. 

 I saw a blue tit do so the other day ; but then the 

 nuthatch had a bit of bacon in his beak, which 

 rather diminished the power of that dreaded 

 weapon. The cole tits, one of w.hich is much 

 smaller than the other, always wait till the nut- 

 hatch has filled his beak and left ; then they are 

 down upon the plate in a minute. They do not 

 seem to care for crumbs ; all the birds prefer 

 bacon. Old Joe refuses bread till he is sure he 

 can get no bacon. 



A robin in the midst of three or four tits 

 makes a pretty bit of colour. Sometimes I have 

 a wreath of tits before the window ; for a light 

 branch of the Gloire de Dijon rose springs like an 

 arch from the edge of the verandah, and the tits 



F 



