BIRDS AND GARDENS 205 



the study window), takes the south and west 

 of the house with the Rose beds as far as 

 the said arch. But there he meets the eastern 

 king he did so this morning and then we 

 see sparks ; for more pugnacious, insolent, 

 blood-thirsty little monsters do not exist than 

 these much-belauded birdlings. But when, 

 very rarely, the southern and eastern potentates 

 venture upon the property of the orchard 

 robin, there ensues a three-cornered duel which 

 becomes positively homeric. 



With blackbirds and thrushes much the 

 same carefully defined divisions of property 

 are observed. My particularly handsome song- 

 thrush friend has possessed himself of the 

 borders and grass on the south and west close 

 to the house, singing in the Black Poplar and 

 nesting in the bushes of the front hedge 

 year after year ; and I cannot see that he 

 ever moves far from his little territory (unless 

 chased by an arrogant cock blackbird, who 

 lords it over all the place). His appetite 

 seems insatiable ; as from dawn to dusk, unless 

 he is singing, he is quietly and deliberately 



