13(1 thp: chronicles of a garden. 



or take in also those more cherished companions, generally 

 known by the term of " pets." No doubt, in a small place, 

 the latter are sometimes voted 'plagues, and it is often 

 pretty evident that our friends so esteem them ; so it can 

 only be f^-om the real genuine lover of " pet animals " that 

 I can hope for any sympathy, when I truly and deliberately 

 class " our pets '^ among " our pleasures." 



Every one likes birds. I should be sorry to meet any 

 one who did not ; but it is not very common to find 

 those who have the faculty of making frienchliips among 

 their feathered favourites : for, in general, people seem 

 to value birds more for their song than for aught else, 

 and many, too many, value their fruit more than the 

 songsters, and allow a yearly destruction of these crea- 

 tures to take place, which is distressing indeed to all 

 lovers nnd friends of the feathered tribes. It is curious to 

 observe how soon birds discover the places where they will 

 not be molested, and how soon many of them shew the 

 confidence they feel in our protection, by building near us, 

 by remaining on the nest even when looked at, and by 

 bringing their young ones, when flown, to our feet to be 

 fed. The blackbird and chaffinch are especially familiar 

 in this way. I have known more than one instance of a 

 blackbird building her nest within reach of the hand, in 

 the roses which covered the porch, or in the ivy close to 

 the window; and, indeed, on one occasion so satisfied was the 

 fuotlier bird with her public position in the little [)orch, that 

 after her first family liad flown, she settled herself again in 

 the yame nest and brought out a second brood, undisturljed 



