A rATOTJEITB GAKDEN. 75 



ground. No ornithological researches, so far as I am aware, 

 have been lately published in this country, which can compare 

 with those of Sir J. Lubbock on the intelligence of insects. 

 Birds are in fact an extremely difficult subject for minute study ; 

 abundant leisure at thq proper season, indefatigable perseverance, 

 and the means and opportunity of travel, are its necessary con- 

 ditions, which are denied to most men. And, it must be added, 

 a considerable sacrifice of the life and happiness of birds is 

 another sine qua non of investigations of this kind ; and thus 

 the growing sensitiveness of cultivated men is brought into 

 conflict with the ardour of the enthusiastic savant. 



But to return to my village ; it is astonishing how many birds, 

 in spite of the presence of their deadliest enemies, boys and cats, 

 will come into our gardens to buUd their nests, if only fair oppor- 

 tunities are offered them. In a garden close to my own, whose 

 owner has used every means in his power to attract them, 

 there were last May fifty-three nests, exclusive of those 

 of swallows and martins. The garden is not, more than two 

 or three acres in extent, including the little orchard which 

 adjoins it ; but by planting great numbers of thick bushes and 

 coniferous trees, and by placing flower-pots, old wooden boxes, 

 and other such odds and ends, in the forks of the branches at 

 a considerable height from the ground, he has inspired them 

 with perfect confidence in his goodwill and ' philornithic ' 

 intentions. The fact that a pair of Missel-thrushes reared 

 their young here only a few feet from the ground, and close 

 to a stable and a much-frequented walk, shows that even 

 birds of wild habits of life may be brought to repose trust 



