THE FARMER'S FEATHERED FRIENDS. 61 



them ! " Such were the sentiments expressed by 

 one of our farmer acquaintances in my hearing. 

 Strange to say, when the fruit season came round, 

 that particular year he had a much heavier crop 

 and larger fruit on his gooseberry-bushes than he 

 had gathered for years. When I twitted him with 

 the fact, he simply replied that " he couldn't mek it 

 out, nohow." 



Philip Sparrow bears no malice and sticks to the 

 farmer. He even builds in his thatch or under the 

 tiles of his house. If you have ever lived in one 

 of those old farm homesteads, very early in the 

 morning, if it is summer-time, almost before the 

 dawn, you will have heard him begin his monot- 

 onous and exasperating conversation " Chip-chip- 

 chip ! chisic-chisic-chisic ! chip - chip - chip !" By 

 degrees the whole colony joins in. In the stillness 

 of early dawn, when the farm is dead still, the noise 

 to one unused to it is most irritating. 



When they have their young, the sparrows are 

 most persevering insect - hunters. All the day 

 through, from morning till night, the cock bird 

 continues bringing his mouth full of insects to feed 

 his mate as she sits on her nest, or their young 



