Garden Friends.



257



who taught himself to fly down and dive into a bottle, which I held

up, for his nut. This trick was entirely his own invention and I

have never been able to persuade any other bird to attempt it. My

little friend (a Blue Tit) was most particular and would only

“ oblige ” if his own bottle was held up. During the summer he

always disappeared and I saw nothing of him until the first frost

brought him back spruce and confident as ever. This lasted three

winters and then, to my deep regret, I saw him no more.


Tits are proverbially mischievous and inquisitive, and my

familiars are no exception. When they have emptied their dish of

kernels they examine books—my Spanish Authology, unwarily left

on my bed table, has its wrapper torn and pierced in their search

after knowledge—the dressing table (a favourite joke is to tug the

pins out of the cushion, carry them to the edge of the table and

drop them into space) ; the walls of the room : picture frames can be

hammered and excavations made round nails and quite a respectable

amount of paper torn away or plaster destroyed. I have even found

the holes in my sponge neatly packed with pine kernels, a deed which

I put to the credit of the Cole Tits, who are very fond of making

stores and forgetting all about them. But in spite of these misdoings

they are such dainty rogues and have such amusing ways that I

have not the heart to banish them.


The Chaffinches do not as a rule come into the house, but lie

in wait when we go round the garden, calling loudly until their

demands are attended to. They also like to feed their young on

pine kernels as well as mealworms.


It is curious that neither Marsh Tits nor Nuthatches, both

common here and both domesticated in other gardens not far off,

have so far responded to my advances. Only once have I had

dealings with a Marsh Tit when, during a spell of severe frost about

six years ago, one of these birds entered a garden aviary and refused

to be turned out. He made himself quite at home, living on hemp

seed and mealworms and became very masterful towards the other

inhabitants, so that I was not very sorry when spring came and he

took his departure.


I fear that I cannot lay claim to any particular discoveries

from my observations of these species. Robins I find make “cast-



