78 FRESH WOODS. 



not for want of food, but simply out of the 

 ferocity of his feline nature. 



It was a bit of original sin cropping out of 

 him had he given himself time to think, I 

 am sure, knowing as I do his polished edu- 

 cation and general amiability of manners, he 

 would not have done it. If the murder had 

 been committed by one of the many wolfish, 

 starved cats that infest our garden, the crime 

 might have been looked upon as justifiable 

 avicide ; but for the sleek and glossy Charlie 

 it was " worse than a crime it was a fault." 



My correspondent seems to know a good 

 deal about the likes and dislikes of cats ; 

 their peculiarities of taste don't seem to be 

 confined to the flavour of different birds, for 

 it is said of cat-mint 



" If you set it, cats will eat it ; 



If you sow it, cats won't know it ! " 



I never had the pleasure of tasting either 

 sparrow or starling, so can express no opinion 

 as to their comparative merits ; but according 

 to Mr. Vincent Holt we have only to get rid 

 of our early prejudices, and a new gastro- 

 nomic world is opened up to us. Already 

 we eat gooseberries sawfly larvae eat goose- 

 berry-leaves ; sparrows eat larvae we eat 

 sparrows. Why should we not eat larvae? 



