BIRDS. 199 



a hammer's body ; the black shining glitter of a 

 blackbird; how startlingly living is the colour! 



Notice, in the Spring, how fresh and beautiful 

 are the different shades of brown on the back 

 of the despised house sparrow, as he hops on the 

 road picking up his bit of food. Observe with 

 what delicacy they shade into each other. The 

 eye and the mind are not offended by colour 

 clashing with colour in the tints of wild flowers 

 and the markings of the free bird. 



Once the writer was living in one of the 

 London suburbs, his study window overlooked a 

 small back garden, and in order to relieve the 

 monotony of his constant writing, he erected a 

 flat board about 5 feet high, supported by two 

 uprights. These uprights were placed well under 

 the board, so that no cat could crawl up the 

 upright and on to the board. And on the board 

 he placed scraps from the table, water, and hung 

 down bones and pieces of suet for the tits. All 

 through a very hard winter, all sorts of birds 

 collected on and around that board. They got 

 quite tame, and as he looked up from his 

 writing he had every opportunity of observing 

 their different ways and endless shades of 

 colouring. 



They lifted his mind, and he thinks they 

 helped his writing to be more life-like, and his 

 sympathies to be wider. 



