Extracts from the Diary of a Blue-Tit 343 
use, and, horror! among them was a ~ ae f i 
gun! I saw it plainly; there was no |} : 
mistaking it, though it was the largest 
of its kind I had ever seen, and looked | 
different from most. We have had 
good reason to know the look of a gun | 
for many generations, and I promptly 
went into the orchard, determining to 
keep a sharp look-out and not show 
myself too much. 
December 25th.—This is Christmas 
Day. Since my last note the place 
has been simply unbearable; an in- 
cessant noise of hammering goes on 
all day. Once or twice the new sis eS = 
people—a man and woman and a dog eee SAT 
(the dog seems to spend most of his 
time watching a hedgehog which also came with them)—have walked round the 
garden, but I have carefully kept out of sight. This morning, however, all was quiet, 
and I ventured to come into the fir tree in front of the house. Hanging from a 
stick on the lawn was a round thing which I could not make out, but on drawing 
nearer I found it to be half of a cocoanut. “Is that for a decoy,” I said, “a thing 
to lure me to destruction?” I went closer to inspect it more narrowly, and at last, 
as nobody was to be seen, I boldly flew on to it and made a good breakfast. I 
should mention that, up to the present, I have seen nothing more of that gun. 
January 12th.—Every day I come and get some nut—several times a day when 
the weather is cold—but this morning I had a shock; chancing to look at the lower 
window, the one nearest the nut, I saw the gun inside the room! It was pointed 
straight at the nut, and behind it was the man! I promptly slpped away unperceived, 
and shall keep dark for a time. 
January 15th—To-day I summoned up courage to have a turn at the nut. 
I looked at the window, but nothing was to be seen. I flew on to the nut, and lo! 
it was empty. Now this 
was strange, because I had 
left quite a large piece. Has 
the man’s woman been at 
it, I wonder? As I sat 
ruminating there was a flash 
of wings, and one of those 
“Horror! among them was a gun!” 
coarse, vulgar greater tits— 
quite distant connections of 
our family—swooped down 
and hung on to my nut; 
the brute must have found 
it out in my absence. I sat 
on in the fir tree, thinking 
things over generally, when 
the door opened, and the 
man came with another nut, 
which he hung on the stick 
in place of the empty one. 
~ : = 
“The dog spends most of his time watching a hedgehog.” 
