A'.I JURE PLEASURES. 
/J 
behalf; and their movements at tliese feeding places are always 
most interesting to observe. To these strings they will come, 
three or four kinds, in large numbers ; and there they will perch, 
almost on each others’ backs, Hit from piece to piece, hang on 
iinyhow, heads downward, be twisted around and blown about 
by the wind, and furnish, in their varied plumage, a mass of 
ever-enjoyable beauty. Last spring (1895) they l)uilt nests in 
the bo.\es, and there two kinds of tits reared their pretty little 
broods successfully. Just above one of the bo.xes some sparrows 
had long had their perennial building-place in the ivy ; and one 
morning this contiguity of nests led to a fierce conllict. While 
the females were sitting on their eggs, there took place between 
the males a long contest for supremacy in the adjacent apple 
tree. The sparrow was the bigger bird, and looked likely to 
win ; but the plucky little tit returned to the encounter again 
and again, undaunted, and at last secured the victory ; after 
which struggle the birds seemed to have quite settled their 
disputes, and lived on as close neighbours quite amicably. 
Through long continuance in the garden, and there raising 
their broods, a pair of robins have become quite familiar com- 
panions. When their young had been hatched, it was interest- 
ing to sit close under the box that contained the little robinets, 
and note with what assiduity the parent birds brought worms or 
some such soft food ; with what care, before delivering the food, 
they watched to note if anybody was looking at them, and with 
what eagerness, after feeding the little ones in the box, they 
would fly away widely, as if they wanted to show that they were 
going into the next county. One spring the female robin was 
ailing ; her husband was very tender to her, and tried to coax 
her with a bit of food. But, alas ! she pined away and died : 
and then, for several days, the widowed bird went on singing 
rapturously all day long with hardly a moment’s cessation, till, 
by such an outburst of song, he had secured another wife, who 
soon set up housekeeping with him in a neighbouring box. 
So far as we can make out, it is the female bird that has most to 
do with choosing the home and fashioning the nest, while the 
male does all the singing. 
The robins are very pugnacious and very jealous, and will 
not tolerate a rival any way near their territory. The robinets 
are bright-eyed little birds, but, for a while, very feeble in flight, 
and apt to wander abroad too early, and thus to fall a prey to 
cats. Like other youngsters, the robinets seem eager to get off 
to see the world, and our chief anxiety about them is to keep 
them in the garden till they are able to fly strongly. 
The sparrowlings are quite different birds, and do not come 
out till they are able to fly well. Then, in pleasant little family 
groups, they press round their parents, with much chirping and 
wing-fluttering, to take what these parents seem very ready to 
supply. In June and July, it is a pleasant sight to see the 
mother-bird bending down some slender rose-shoot and instruct- 
