WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 197 



fond of grease that they will spend any length of time 

 gnaw-gnaw-gnawing till they do get at it. Right 

 through the solid stopper of wood they eat their way, 

 and even through the horn ; so that the carpenter is 

 puzzled to know how to preserve it out of their reach. 

 It is of no use putting it on a shelf, because they 

 either rush up the wall or drop from above. At last, 

 however, he has hit upon a dodge. 



He has suspended the horn high above the ground 

 by a loop of copper wire, which projects six or eight 

 inches from the wall, like a lamp on a bracket. The 

 mice may get on the bench, and may run up the wall, 

 but when they get to the wire they cannot walk out 

 on it like tight-rope walking the more especially 

 as the wire, being thin and flexible, bends and sways 

 if they attempt it. This answers the purpose as a 

 rule ; but even here the carpenter declares that once 

 now and then his horn is pilfered, and can only account 

 for it by supposing that a bolder mouse than common 

 makes a desperate leap for it, and succeeds in landing 

 on the flat surface of the wooden stopper. 



The shed has one small window only, which has no 

 glass, but is secured by an iron bar (he needs no larger 

 window, for all carpenters work with the door open) ; 

 and through this window a robin has entered and built 

 a nest in a quiet corner behind some timber. Though 

 a man is at work here so often, hammering and sawing, 

 the birds come fearlessly to their young, and pick up 

 the crumbs he leaves from his luncheon. 



Between the timber framework of the shed and the 



