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 onmi- 
present sparrow, and that always pleasant com- 
panion 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. Domestic 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 all eyesores and painful skeletons 
in London cupboards, the worst, to my mind, is 
L 
