140 Birds like Pear Trees. 



stump of an old fir tree. This bird was watched, but 

 not interfered with ; she came repeatedly, and was 

 seen on the nest, and the egg observed. Afterwards 

 a cuckoo sang continuously day after day on an ash 

 tree close to the garden. 



Lower down in the ivy, behind the logs of timber 

 under the casement, the hedge-sparrow builds every 

 year ; and on the wood itself where the trunks formed 

 a little recess was a robin's nest. The hedge-spar- 

 row, unlike his noisy namesake, is one of the quietest 

 of birds : he slips about in the hedges and bushes all 

 round the garden so quietly and unobtrusively that 

 unless you watch carefully you will not see him. Yet 

 he does not seem shy, and if you sit still will come 

 along the hawthorn within a yard. 



In the thatch under the eaves of the cellar, which 

 are not more than four feet from the ground and 

 come up to the ivy of the gable the wren has a 

 nest. Some birds seem always to make their nests 

 in one particular kind of way, and generally in the 

 same kind of tree or bush ; robins, house-sparrows, 

 and starlings, on the other hand, adjust their nests to 

 all sorts of places. 



The window of a room in which I used to sleep 

 overlooked the orchard, and there was a pear tree 

 trained against the wall, some of the boughs of which 

 came up to the window-sill. This pear tree acted as 

 a ladder, up which the birds came. Pear trees are a 

 good deal frequented by many birds ; their rough 

 bark seems to shelter numerous insects. The win- 

 dow was left open all night in the sultry summer 

 weather, and presently a robin began to come in very 

 early in the morning. Encouraged by finding that 



