44 A GARDEN OF PLEASURE 



square of bacon-fat* made fast to the end of 

 a long string. This dainty, replaced con- 

 stantly as it wastes, hangs all the winter 

 from the tree for the tomtits' special benefit. 

 They are tame also, and, like all very little 

 birds, are seemingly not able to take in the 

 idea of a large human being. Quite unlike 

 this small fearlessness of titmice is the 

 impudent effrontery of our little ne'er-do- 

 weels the sparrows. Their familiarity 

 seems to have no touch of kindliness in it. 

 I do not blame them. It is the shape of 

 their blunt coarse beaks, that affects their 

 whole nature ! The sparrows' perverse- 

 ness increases, and the friendlier we are 

 to them, the worse they behave. They 

 tear up into shreds our beautiful purple 

 and yellow crocuses, but mainly the yellow. 

 The white and the lilac are left compara- 

 tively unmolested, and they seem to attack 

 the beds only in full sunshine. Crocuses, 

 I feel sure, never before suffered from 

 sparrows as they do this season. 



* At the time this was written, in 1884, we had not 

 invented cocoa-nuts a pleasanter feast, and equally 

 acceptable to the tits. 



