OUR MOUNTAIN GARDEN 



the compliment and picking crumbs off the 

 table of the squirrels. My private opin- 

 ion is that it would take a champion 

 squirrel to handle any of the Felsengarten 

 birds, for they are past masters of the 

 noble art of self-defence, and keep their 

 claws and beaks in good practice by fight- 

 ing each other all day long ! One day 

 the Meister looked out of the window 

 and beheld two of them lying prone upon 

 the grass, clutching each other so fiercely 

 by the throat that they paid no heed to 

 his pounding on the window, nor yet 

 when he went out and shouted to them 

 from the piazza, and it was not until he 

 had descended to the ground, and almost 

 reached them, as they lay struggling in 

 the grass, that the combatants finally 

 let go their savage clinch and flew off. 

 This exhibition of ferocity on the part of 

 36 



