SGTPr 147 



call natural, but which is most surely born of long 

 contact with cruelty and ways of darkness, they soon 

 learn the place and hour of almsgiving; and in hard 

 weather will collect in still increasing crowds that with 

 their varied beauty and the endless charm of their 

 graceful movements will repay a hundredfold the kind- 

 ness of their almoner. 



Of course, there is none of all the crowd who is quite 

 so charming as the robin. His confident air, his bright 

 red breast, the twinkle of his bold black eye, his smart 

 bearing, and his courtly bow rank him easily the first 

 favourite. When food is set out upon a board placed 

 close to the window, the robin is the first to find it out, 

 the first to venture near; and then, watching all the 

 while the watchers in the room, he takes his meal with a 

 grace no other guest can rival for a moment. But the 

 robin needs no introduction, requires no plea on his 

 behalf. There are many almoners for him. His mere 

 presence is a charm. His clear, cool singing, very 

 sunshine of dark winter days, is full return for every 

 favour. 



But if his ways especially endear him to the fancy, 

 the little family of tits, when once they have become 

 familiar, will run him very close in the popular regard. 

 If you will hang up a bone or a piece of fat near the 

 window, the tits will soon discover it, and when they 

 are satisfied that all is safe, they will come to it from 

 morning to night. There are three who are pretty sure 

 to become regular visitors, and perhaps a rarer fourth 

 may sometimes show himself. First comes the blue tit 



