394 
NOTES TO THE 
Mr. Bartlett gives the London sparroAv a bad name ; they do 
a vast amount of mischief. In tlie early spring they collect in 
the streets and squares every feather and stray straw and other 
rubbish, with which they build their nests, filling up generally 
the head of the water pipe on the top of the house ; the first 
heavy storm washes Mr. Sparrow's nest into the rain pipe, the 
consequence is the house becomes flooded. 
Cats' Fondness for Fish, p. 104. — The following is my account 
of a piscivorous cat, the property of an old fisherman at Ports- 
mouth, called " Itobinson Crusoe" : — " Puddles is my cat, sir, and 
that's why they call me ' Eobinson Crusoe,' 'cause of my boat 
and my cat. He was the wonderfullest water cat as ever come 
out of Portsmouth harbour was ' Puddles,' and he used to go out 
a-fishing with me every night. On cold nights he would sit in 
my lap while I was a-fishing. I was obligated to take him out 
fishing, for else he would stand and yowl and marr till I went 
back and catched him by the poll and shied him into the 
boat, and then he was quite happy. AVhen it was fine he used 
to stick up at the bows of the boat and sit a-watching the 
dogs (i.e., dog-fish). The dogs used to come alongside by thou- 
sands at a time, and when they was thick all about, he would 
dive in and fetch them out jammed in his mouth as fast as 
may be, just as if they was a parcel of rats, and he did not 
tremble with the cold half as much as a Newfoundland dog .' 
> — he was used to it. He looked terrible wild about the head 
when he come up out of the water with the dog-fish ; I larnt 
him the water myself One day, when he was a kitten, I took 
him down to the sea to wash and brush the fleas out of him, 
and in a week he would swim after a feather or a cork." 
My friend, Mr. Austen Layard, British Minister at Madrid, 
has referred me to his account of his tame fish-eating Liou. It is 
to be found in his " Nineveh and Babylon." Mr. Layard writes : 
— " Osman Pasha, the general, received me with courtesy and 
kindness. On my first visit he presented me with two lions'; 
one was nearly of full size, and was well-known in the bazaars 
and thoroughfares of Hillali, through which he was allowed to 
wander unrestrained. He would also wait the coming of the 
kuffas or wicker boats of the fishermen, and driving away their 
owners, would help himself to a kind of large barbel, for which 
he appeared to have had a decided relish." 
Cats in Rabbit-holes.— House cats that are half wild some- 
times live in rabbit-holes. E. N. R. writes : — "A man was en- 
gaged to kill rabbits in the high bank of an old quarry which 
