98 
NATURE NOTES. 
“ The Tender Heart ” (p. 52). — The Editor of The Irish Monthly kindly 
sends us a cutting from an American newspaper which shows that this poem, the 
source of which we were unable to trace, is by an American lady, Miss Helen 
Gray Cone. 
The Sparrow. — The Rev. J. C. Atkinson contributes to Macmillan's 
“ A Good Word for the Sparrow,” which will delight his champions. 
We could have wished that his article, which was suggested by the discussion 
initiated in these pages, had been sent to Nature Notes, where it would have 
found a more appreciative, if not a larger circle of readers. We hope to publish 
in our next number the views of our valued correspondent “ E. V. B.” on this 
vexed question. 
Commons Preservation Society.— We are glad to see that a special 
committee of this Society has been formed for Kent and Surrey, devoted especially 
to the promotion of the work of the Society in these two counties. The committee 
will also proceed to enrol as many residents in Kent and Surrey as possible, as 
members of the Society, who will each pay an annual enrolment fee of is., with 
any larger subscription they may like to give : to enlist the services of pedestri.ans 
who know any parts of the counties well, who will mark on sheets of the ordinance 
map the foot-paths now open to the public, the roadside strips still unenclosed, 
and the commons — instructions as to the way of marking and the notes which 
should accompany the map will be furnished by the Secretary on application — : to 
enrol in many parts of the counties corresponding members, who will be prepared 
to allow the Secretary to ask them to obtain for him any information he may need 
in their neighbourhood, should questions arise as to enclosure or closing of paths. 
We need hardly say that the multiplication of such committees has our warmest 
sympathy, and we shall be delighted to chronicle the formation of similar local 
organizations. The Hon. Sec. of the Kent and .Surrey committee is Mr. Benton 
Fletcher, 5, Red Cross Cottages, Southwark, S.E. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Nesting Habits of the Blue Tit. — A pair of blue tits have for the last 
two summers built and brought up a family in a box placed for them in the garden 
here. Their altered demeanour while rearing their young was very noticeable, 
and interesting to watch. The usual bold, fussy and almost aggressive manner of 
the little blue-cap entirely disappeared, and was replaced by a singuLarly timid and 
retiring one. At the same time they acquired a habit of dropping the wings, 
and shaking them with a quick tremulous motion — in short, one might imagine, 
from watching them, that they had, for the time being, adopted the character and 
manners of their gentle and unobtrusive neighbour, the hedge sparrow. They also 
became remarkably silent, uttering no sound whatever, even when the nest was 
approached by a cat. Unlike the majority of birds, whose agitated manner and 
repeated cries tend to draw the intruder’s attention from the nest to themselves, 
this pair of tits seemed to rely mainly — for the preservation of their young — on 
stealth and concealment. They evidently tried hard to elude observation, par- 
ticularly during their frequent journeys to and from their family — no easy task, 
considering the number of hungry youngsters to be provided for. The two old 
birds were never, I believe, in the nesting-box at the same time. If both 
happened to arrive simultaneously with food, one would wait close by till its mate 
had entered, disposed of its burden, and flown off for more, before going in itself ; 
indeed it is hardly likely there would be room for both, especially when the eight 
or ten young birds within were approaching their parents in size. Some idea of 
the good service rendered to gardeners by this pretty and amusing little bird may' 
be formed by watching a pair with a family. Almost the whole of their time is 
occupied in searching for and bringing food to their nestlings, and this food (as far 
as my observation goes), invariably consists of small green or greenish white cater- 
pillars. In one instance, where a pair had a nest in a kitchen garden here, these 
caterpillars were taken from the raspberry canes ; but shrubs and trees of many 
other kinds, and especially fruit trees, are too often infested with these or similar 
