292 THE EEV. J. G. WOOD. 



comrades to oust them from any vantage-ground which 

 thev might have taken up ; and this the said comrades 

 were never slow in doing. So my father put up near 

 his window a kind of permanent feast, to which the tit- 

 mice, and the titmice alone, should have access. This 

 was managed by enclosing a number of small lumps of 

 suet in a little bag of large-meshed network, and sus- 

 pending it by three or four feet of string from an out- 

 stretching branch of a tall tree. The titmice, being 

 marvellously proficient in the art of climbing, and quite 

 as much at their ease when hanging head downwards as 

 when in the ordinary position, were of course perfectly 

 satisfied with this arrangement, and might be seen upon 

 the ball of suet at all hours of the day, pecking away 

 busily not to say greedily at the suet within, and 

 speedily reducing it to a mere tithe of its former dimen- 

 sions. And very pretty indeed the odd little birds looked 

 as they clung to the network, swinging in the wind, 

 and eating their meal without fear of molestation from 

 the sparrows. For the latter, of course, were hopelessly 

 debarred by their physical structure from disputing 

 with them the possession of the dainty repast, and they 

 and their fellow-finches could only look on, and see 

 the titmice enjoying themselves, without the remotest 

 chance of becoming participators in the feast. 



Other " outdoor " pets, too, he had at this time in 

 the shape of some lions and tigers at Margate. These 

 belonged to Saiiger's menagerie, to which, as it wa& 

 within walking distance, he was a very frequent visitor. 

 Indeed, while he was at home, he very seldom let a week 



