42 
NATURE NOTES. 
much the sharpest. I was throwing out some crumbs of plum 
cake one day, when one of our robins made a dart at a dry beech 
leaf on the snow \vhich was much the same colour as the cake ; 
he took it in his bill, and then looked, for once, quite ashamed of 
himself on discovering his mistake; the other birds were too intent 
on securing each their own portion to laugh at him, so to cover 
his confusion I aimed a crumb at him, with which he quickly 
retired to the privacy of his own bush. 
We have a blackbird who has had the misfortune to lose one 
claw ; his sight was sadly defective in the first days of snow, but 
he has now become more accustomed to his white surroundings. 
He dearly loves a bit of cake or sweet pudding. The other 
day, when a greedy sparrow snatched a bit of cake from under 
his bill, the poor thing gave a piteous, almost human, cry of 
distress. He seldom fails, however, to secure his portion now ; I 
begin to think he knows the sound of the cupboard door where 
we keep the cake, as he generally comes flying to the door or 
window to meet us, almost before we open them, when armed 
with cake. 
Even jackdaws do not seem to have much sense of smell. 
We occasionally throw out a chop bone to them from the table, 
but it is generally the immediate descent of tit-mice upon it that 
tells the other birds where it is, as its warmth causes it to sink 
slightly in the snow ; then a robin will take a peck, and next a 
blackbird will drag it for a little distance, until driven off by three 
or four other blackbirds, and then down swoops the jackdaw. He 
will carry off a big crumb or a bit of biscuit with a stately sweep, 
not pausing to alight, but the bone has to be firmly steadied in 
his beak, so, with ungainly gait, he alights, and, with a look of 
triumph in his blue eyes, carries off the treasure to a neighbour- 
ing tree. 
We find the rooks ver}’ difficult to deal with in this severe 
weather ; they are frightened of coming very near to the house 
amongst the other birds, and very stupid at picking anything 
up off the snow — but accustomed as they are to picking insects 
out of green fields or brown earth, can we wonder? I notice 
that Yarrell comments on the hard shifts for life that rooks 
are put to in severe frosts, being entirely dependent on sight 
in finding food. 
We put out messes of hot food several times a day, going on 
the plan recommended by Dr. Jessopp in his booklet. Pity the 
Poor Birds, only we add well steeped dog biscuit to the bread, 
barley meal and hemp seed, and the jackdaws, and occasional!}- 
an enterprising rook, pick out the biscuit with much zest. 
Our invalid blackbird for some time asserted his right of pro- 
perty, but had to give up the unequal contest, as every day 
brought new comers. One, whom we have named the Usurper, 
imitates the Invalid, by holding up one leg, and sitting on the 
snow close to the house in the hopes of a bit of cake coming his 
way, just in the Invalid’s attitude. We can only distinguish the 
