s 



COUNTRY RAMBLES. 



Cotoneasters, Japanese Winter Jasmine, Mahonia, various Ivies, 

 Bamboos, Gorse, Broom, Heather, Scotch Fir, the Arbutus, Lea 

 Buckthorn, Osiers, Swamp Cypress, Box, and various Reeds. 



26th. A Spring-like morning, light earlier and dark later. 



"Rusticus" in "To-day" writes as follows: "The only way to 

 outwit the Sparrow is to hang up the food in such a way or in such 

 places that nothing will persuade the Sparrow that a trap is not 

 intended. A swinging board hung close to the window makes an 

 excellent breakfast table for the small birds, and though the Sparrows 

 prefer to sit on "neighbouring" trees and chirp warnings to each 

 other, the more confiding birds, Wrens, Robins, Hedge Sparrows, 

 Chanffinches, Greenfinches, Bullfinches, and all the tribe of Tits, will 

 visit it freely. But, perhaps, the most marked contrast between the 



guile of the Sparrow and the 

 confidence of the Tits is 

 brought out if you hang up a 

 lump of suet, fat, or a large 

 meat bone at the end of a 

 string. Nothing will persuade 

 the Sparrows that the string 

 is not part of a trap, and it acts 

 like a scarecrow upon their 

 nerves, insomuch that they 

 will not even sit in the tree to 

 which it is appended." 



Whilst giving credit to 

 my friend "Rusticus" for his 

 very excellent and practical 

 sketches-" To-day with 

 Nature" my observations are certainly not in keeping with his as to 

 the points raised in the above extract. I have nearly always a lump of 

 suet, meat, or fat hung up in my garden for any of the feathered race, 

 and no matter when I look out of my window at this season of the 

 year there are at least half a dozen House Sparrows tugging away at 

 the fare provided, trap or no trap. And as to their not sitting in the 

 tree^ to which the fare is appended, it is entirely an error on the part 

 of "Rusticus," for I have counted as many as a score in the selfsame 

 The Sparrows, one must assume, in the garden of the writer I 

 have quoted, must be of an entirely different nature to those which 

 spend nearly all their time at this season in and about my own garden. 



YELLOW BUNTING. 



