I2 4 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



horses. The Thrush family, whose various members 

 had been careless and wasteful over the hawthorn 

 berries (which at that time were " familiar objects " at 

 the North End Gardens), and had strewn more than 

 they ate on the ground and in the ditches below, were 

 disconsolately searching for such as still remained; 

 while they attacked the wreaths on the cemetery 

 graves, in order to satisfy their hunger with the 

 berries they found upon them. A wretched Thrush, 

 grumpily hopping along under a bank, was seized by 

 a hungry rat, pulled screaming into its burrow, and 

 without a shadow of a doubt was speedily devoured. 



Two young Herons, very tame and not yet strong 

 on the wing, had fallen in with a pool full of stickle- 

 backs on 29th July 1895. Here they were snapping 

 them up to their heart's content. 



A large dragon-fly on a fine sunny day in May 

 1897 came gaily winging its way along the Bridge 

 Road. A Sparrow from a roof-gutter saw it, and 

 gave chase. I never saw such doubling and cross 

 flying by chace and quarry. For some minutes the 

 chase lasted, the insect dodging the bird so deftly 

 that one could almost imagine it enjoyed being 

 pursued. Eventually both turned the corner of a 

 building, and I lost sight of them. 



