166 BIRD NOTES 



room window one morning at seven o'clock. She 

 could not have known I was there, and was pro- 

 bably trying windows in general. She is very 



wise for her size. 



May 13, 1888. 



Two sweet young thrushes' heads are peering 

 out of the nest in the yellow jasmine on my wall, 

 and so far I have prevented them from being 

 taken ; though I caught the bookseller's youth one 

 day, with his hand burglariously threatening the 

 nest, and his feet among my flowers, and I have 

 had a bird-stealing mason in the house. Oh, the 

 birds are so funny just now ! My two tits impe- 

 riously demand to be fed with bacon still, but the 

 cock feeds the hen now and then as if she were 

 a young one ; and she puts on such ridiculously 

 infantine airs, and emits such baby croakings from 

 her open mouth. The next minute she is feeding 

 herself as cleverly as ever. Can it be a game of 

 play ? Do they play at nurseries as we did at 

 houses ? The robins do the same. I'm puzzled. 

 Poor old Bob goes about without a tail. Has he 

 pulled it out, do you think, to adorn his nest? 

 Or has some dog or cat grabbed at it ? 



May Id. 1888. 



The birds certainly have an aesthetic faculty 

 both for sweet sound and brilliant colour. I wish 



