so NOTES TO THE 



Mr. Bartlett gives the London sparrow a bad name ; they do 

 a vast amount of mischief. In the early spring they collect in 

 the streets and squares every feather and stray straw and other 

 rubbish, with which they build their nests, filling up generally 

 the head of the water pipe on the top of the house ; the first 

 heavy storm washes Mr. Sparrow's nest into the rain pipe, the 

 consequence is the house becomes flooded. 



CATS' FONDNESS FOR FISH, p. 104. The following is my account 

 of a piscivorous cat, the property of an old fisherman at Ports- 

 mouth, called " llobinson Crusoe" : " Puddles is my cat, sir, and 

 that's why they call me 'Robinson Crusoe,' 'cause of my boat 

 and my cat. He was the wonderfullest water cat as ever come 

 out of "Portsmouth harbour was ' Puddles,' and he used to go out 

 a-fishing with me every night. On cold nights he would sit in 

 my lap while I was a-fishing. I was obligated to take him out 

 fishing, for else he would stand arid yowl and marr till I went 

 back and catched him by the poll and shied him into the 

 boat, and then he was quite happy. When it was fine he used 

 to stick up at the bows of the boat and sit a-watching the 

 dogs (i.e., dog-fish^. The dogs used to come alongside by thou- 

 sands at a time, and when they was thick all about, he would 

 dive in and fetch them out jammed in his mouth as fast as 

 may be, just as if they was a parcel of rats, and he did not 

 tremble with the cold half as much as a Newfoundland dog ! 

 he was used to it. He looked terrible wild about the head 

 when he come up out of the water with the dog-fish ; I larnt 

 him the water myself. One day, when he was a kitten, I took 

 him down to the sea to wash and brush the fleas out of him, 

 and in a week he would swim after a feather or a cork." 



My friend, Mr. Austen Layard, British Minister at Madrid, 

 has referred me to his account of his tame fish-eating Lion. It is 

 to be found in his " Nineveh and Babylon." Mr. Layard writes : 

 " Osman Pasha, the general, received me with courtesy and 

 kindness. On my first visit he presented me with two lions; 

 one was nearly of full size, and was well-known in the bazaars 

 and thoroughfares of Hillah, through which he was allowed to 

 wander unrestrained. He would also wait the coming of the 

 kuffas or wicker boats of the fishermen, and driving away their 

 owners, would help himself to a kind of large barbel, for which 

 he appeared to have had a decided relish." 



CATS IN RABBIT-HOLES. House cats that are half wild some- 

 times live in rabbit-holes. E. N. R. writes : "A man was en- 

 gaged to kill rabbits in the high bank of an old quarry which 



