Some Curious Notes from My Diary 



nearly everything else throughout their adventurous 

 lives by instinct. Such is by no means the case. They 

 have, like human beings, to learn many things in the 

 great school of experience. Twice in my life I have 

 come upon cock house sparrows that never uttered a 

 note common to their species. 



Not long ago I visited a very old lady relative who 

 was bedridden, but mentally clear and bright as a top 

 form schoolgirl. Upon entering the house her nurse 

 said to me : " Miss Kearton has had a pet sparrow given 

 to her in a cage, but for Heaven's sake do not tell her it 

 is a sparrow, she thinks it is a rare bird from some 

 remote part of the earth and will be offended." I 

 asked for its history and was told that it had been 

 picked up by a bird lover after falling out of a nest 

 in the guttering of some house under repair, and 

 reared in an aviary amongst canaries and other cage 

 pets. 



I instantly realized that I was on the horns of a very 

 awkward dilemma, namely, to make choice between a 

 hateful deception and an unpleasant truth. 



I was ushered into my relative's bedchamber with 

 feelings of vehement hatred towards the whole race of 

 sparrows, and hers in particular. My eye instantly 

 caught the unnaturally clean brute in his gilt cage, and 

 after the usual salutations I carefully sat down with my 

 back towards him in order to lessen his chances of 

 attracting attention. His manners were not equal, 

 however, to the strain the situation put upon him, and 

 instead of maintaining a well-bred silence he persisted in 



