BIRDS AND CATS 53 



Titmouse, House-Martin, Starling, and Sparrow. 

 All of their nests were within a very few yards of 

 the house, and considering that we had three cats 

 wandering about, it spoke well for their behaviour 

 when all the young birds were successfully reared 

 with the exception of a few sparrows which tumbled 

 out of their nests in the ivy. I think these were 

 perhaps the innocent cause of other nests being 

 preserved, as two of the cats would sit under the 

 ivy during the main part of the day gazing up 

 and waiting for the next young sparrow to fall. 

 They grew exceedingly fat on such diet, and their 

 frequent meals did not seem to diminish the 

 number of birds above. 



As for the other cat, he was too lazy even to 

 look up at the feathered colony, but would lay at 

 full length in the sun day after day immediately 

 underneath a Hedge-Sparrow's nest. I often 

 watched the two occupants searching for food on 

 the ground within a few inches of this cat's nose, 

 not showing the least fear, a movement of his paws 

 or tail only causing them to get a little farther 

 away. Tiger, as we call him, would sometimes 

 half open his large sleepy eyes and utter a 

 plaintive mew, as though asking the birds to come 

 closer, this being the only effort he made to catch 

 them. 



