270 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



grounds and gardens are fortunately outside the 

 ugly village, and my room had an exceptionally 

 big window occupying almost the whole wall on 

 one side, with an outlook to the south over the 

 green fields and moors towards Helston. An 

 ideal sick-room for a man who can't be happy 

 without the company of birds, and here, even when 

 lying on my bed before I was able to sit or stand 

 by the window, a large portion of the sky, rainy 

 or blue, was visible, and rooks and daws and gulls 

 and troops of starlings, and the curlews from 

 the river, were seen coming and going all day 

 long. 



But it was much better when I was able to go 

 to the window, since now, by feeding them, I 

 could draw the birds to me. I fed them on a 

 green field beneath my window, where the Con- 

 vent milch-cows were accustomed to graze for 

 some hours each day. All through the winter 

 there was grass for them, and I was glad to have 

 them there, as the cow is my favourite beast, and 

 it was also pleasant to see the wintering starlings 

 consorting with them, clustering about their noses, 

 just as they do in the pasture lands in summer 

 time. But I found it best to feed the birds when 



