SPARROW TOWN 71 



fly to and fro, the majority having green caterpillars 

 in their beaks, while occasionally the fare is varied 

 with a short piece of fresh green grass. 



At last the young birds arrive, and what a noise 

 there is ! Hens make the greatest disturbance ; they 

 sit outside their nests and chatter for long together. 

 I well remember one she used to sit on a fence 

 outside my study window, and the noise she made 

 was really phenomenal, and time after time she had 

 to be driven away. 



My favourite cat knows as well as I do when 

 the population of Sparrow Town is increased by new 

 arrivals. There is nothing that pussy fancies more 

 than a plump young sparrow, and for days together 

 she sits under the ivy, springing forward at every- 

 thing that falls. A large number do fall from their 

 nests, and early every morning Minx walks along 

 the path, sniffing to right and left, and sometimes 

 fledglings are so plentiful that she can swallow them 

 as though they were oysters. But at length the baby 

 birds find they have wings, and essay to fly from the 

 ivy to the apple trees below. 



Then begins another stage of life and excitement 

 in Sparrow Town. There is as much fuss, or more, 

 made over a sparrow's first flight, as a mother makes 

 over the first tooth of her child. We see the young 

 sitting outside the nest, and when one of the parents 

 approaches with a beakful of food one of the more 



