CHANTICLEER 



During the month of September, I spent several 

 days at a house standing on high ground in one of 

 the pleasantest suburbs of London, commanding 

 a fine view at the back of the breezy, wooded, and 

 not very far-off Surrey hills ; and all round, from 

 every window, front and back, such a mass of 

 greenery met the eye, almost concealing the neigh- 

 bouring houses, that I could easily imagine myself 

 far out in the country. In the garden the omni- 

 present sparrow, and that always pleasant companion 

 the starling, associated with the thrush, blackbird, 

 green linnet, chaffinch, redstart, wren, and two 

 species of tits ; and, better than all these, not fewer 

 than half a dozen robins warbled their autumn notes 

 from early morning until late in the evening. Do- 

 mestic bird-life was also represented by fifteen fowls, 

 and the wise laxity existing in the establishment made 

 these also free of the grounds; for of eyesores and 



painful skeletons in London cupboards, one of the 



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