FEEDING THE BIRDS IN WINTER. 
5 
nevertheless, a very comely little bird. Compared with a hen 
sparrow, what a little lady she looks ! Graceful in carriage, 
and gentle in manner, she is in no wise lacking as to beauty of 
plumage. A few soft quiet tints are so disposed and blended as 
to produce a most harmonious and pleasing effect, which, as is 
the case with the male, is much enhanced by the one bit of 
strong contrast, the white wing-bars on a dark ground. The 
markings of the shapely little head, too, are very pretty. But, 
as is the case with the females of many birds, to appreciate 
their beauty (often of no mean order) they must be seen close 
at hand. At only a short distance, the various approximate 
shades of colour, frequently disposed so as to form exquisite and 
intricate patterns, merge into a uniform dingy grey or brown, 
often matching so closely the general colour of her accustomed 
haunts as to afford to the mother bird with eggs or young a 
most valuable means of concealment. 
Last spring, long after the cold weather was gone, and all 
the rest of the birds had quite left off coming for food, with the 
exception of the two marsh tits, who still paid us an occa- 
sional visit, one particular cock chaffinch still came for his seed. 
He was so fearless and confiding that he would come upon the 
doorstep while I stood in the doorway feeding him. He con- 
tinued his visits even after he had paired, and probably had a 
nest, and it was pleasing to hear him call his mate to breakfast 
with a loud “ spink, spink.” Sometimes she would answer his 
summons, and appear daintily tripping along the ground, and 
approaching by a rather circuitous route, never flying direct to 
the spot. At other times he called in vain, his partner being 
perhaps occupied with family cares. He always seemed restless 
and anxious if she did not come. 
A brambling appeared on the table once last winter, but was 
not seen again. A pair of hedge-sparrows frequented the shrubs 
surrounding the table, but for a long time these gentle, retiring 
little birds did not venture upon it, but were content to pick up 
the crumbs underneath, dropped by the other birds. After a 
time, however, they would occasionally pluck up courage to 
mount upon it if there were not many other birds about. In 
a general way the colouring of the hedge-sparrow is not unlike 
that of the water rail. 
The robins almost invariably become very tame in the winter. 
One of them last year would often alight on the table while the 
food was being placed upon it. The winter before last we had a 
pair of nuthatches. Besides the nuts provided for them, they 
ate bread and hemp seed. I once saw one of them fly off with 
a large bit of crust to a neighbouring elm, to which they 
generally took their nuts to crack. He then ran quickly up 
and down the trunk, as if searching for a suitable cranny to 
fix it in, and having at last found one apparently to his mind, 
pushed the crust in and pecked vigorously at it as if it had been 
a nut. In the spring following, this pair of nuthatches nested in 
