ix LETTERS TO MARCO 57 



birds in his gardens. Even if the bird is a 

 thief, have we no fellow-thievish feeling for 

 him ? You, dear Marco, I know, will never 

 countenance the destruction of birds in any 

 way, and I am sorry that any of our brethren 

 should join the ranks of the bumpkin gar- 

 deners in their ignorant crusade. 



Fly- catchers build their nests in my 

 garden every summer. They are very dar- 

 ing in the choice of the place : one pair had a 

 nest between a climbing rose and the wall of 

 the boat-house, not a yard from a pump which 

 is continually used for watering purposes, and 

 another in a hole in a wall a few feet from 

 the ground. They also build in the syca- 

 more tree. They are particularly partial to 

 perching on the posts of the tennis-nets, or 

 on the wirework which surrounds the court, 

 and will even do this when a game is going 

 on, every now and then executing their little 

 hovering flight after flies and returning to 

 their post. On a summer morning I can see 

 them from my bed catching flies beneath the 



