September 149 



continued without ceasing until dusk, I was able 

 to make a calculation as to the number of caterpillars 

 destroyed by a single pair of these birds in one week, 

 and I found it amounted to about seven thousand six 

 hundred. We can therefore judge of the value of 

 such birds in ridding our gardens of insect pests. 



When the young blue-tits were fledged and were 

 leaving the coco-husk one by one to begin life for 

 themselves in the tree branches, I retained one for a 

 little while, that I might take its portrait (as seen 

 in the illustration), and fearing lest it might suffer 

 from hunger, I placed it at intervals in a cage on the 

 lawn, where I had the pleasure of watching the 

 affectionate parents come back to feed it through the 

 bars. The drawing was soon completed, and I need 

 hardly say the little one was allowed to have its liberty. 



BATS 



' The distant owl 

 Shouteth a sleepy shout, 

 And the voiceless bat, more felt than seen, 

 Is flitting round about.' 



Coventry Patmore. 



A long-eared bat was brought to me to-day ; it 

 had been found in a window-box amongst some 

 flowering plants. When bats will eat either flies 

 or raw meat, one can keep them as pets as long 

 as may be desired, and very curious and interesting 

 they are. This one obstinately refuses food of any 

 kind ; I therefore have placed it in some ivy branches, 

 so that when evening comes it may take wing and 

 feed itself. 



I remember keeping a similar specimen in my 

 childhood, which became very tame and amusing. 



