WINTERING IN WEST CORNWALL 15 



to continue, and as the daws were of the same mind and 

 loyally seconded my efforts to stop it we were soon 

 successful. My plan was to go out and scatter the 

 scraps and crusts far and wide over the road, and 

 while the greedy dog galloped about from crust to 

 crust the daws, hovering overhead, dropped down 

 and snatched them one by one away before he could 

 reach them. 



Later, when leaving St. Ives, I asked the landlady 

 to explain to the birds on the following morning the 

 reason of there being nothing for them, and to request 

 them to go quietly away. They were very intelligent, 

 I said, and would understand ; but on my return, a 

 month later, she said they had not understood the 

 message, or had not believed her, as they had con- 

 tinued to come for several mornings, and had seemed 

 very much put out. It was plain they had kept an 

 eye on that house during my absence, for on going 

 out with scraps on the morning after my return they 

 promptly reappeared in full force on the scene. 



There are few persons to feed the birds in those 

 parts, and those few, I fancy, are mostly visitors from 

 other counties. It amused me to see how the natives 

 regarded my action ; the passer-by would stop and 

 examine the scraps or crusts, then stare at me, and 

 finally depart with a puzzled expression on his coun- 

 tenance, or perhaps smiling at the ridiculous thing he 

 had witnessed. 



The following winter (1906-7) I found a lodging 

 in another part of the town, in a terrace rather high 

 up, where I could look from my window at the Bay 



