2 
from the concealment of a tent at close quarters. My tent is of 
green “ scrim,” just big enough to hold a chair with me sitting in 
it; it is slung on a cord that can be tied to branches, or light poles 
as may be most convenient. It has an opening at the back 
to let me in, and slits arranged as peep holes. When it is 
pitched close to a nest, the birds, as a rule, soon get used to it, and 
see no difference when I have found time to slip in and do a little 
eavesdropping; but some birds ( e.g ., Woodpeckers) smell their 
enemy, and are always a little nervous. Still, in this way, a great 
deal of a bird’s home-life may he learnt in a short time. To give 
an instance, my man complained that the Redstarts had a nest 
under the roof of the bee-house, and he “ made sure” they were 
eating the bees. # I pitched my tent close to the nest, and the next 
day slipped in. The hen bird was seldom absent more than two 
minutes before she returned freighted, generally with caterpillars— 
often more than one at a time. (The young were nearly ready to 
fly.) The cock bird was very lazy about feeding the family. But 
he at once took a dead bee, which I had put upon a railing close 
by; he did not touch a live bee which I had stupefied with cyanide, 
nor did 1 see any act of hostility to the other bees. He brought 
an insect once, which the young one spat out with an expression of 
disgust. I picked it up; it was a “Red Soldier” (Telephorus ). 
It would be hard to say whether this was a good or an evil deed, 
he may have brought it as being “ good enough for the children” ; 
on the other hand, it may have been a delicacy, but of an acquired 
taste. Again, it might have been a lesson of what to avoid; but 
whatever may have been his mind, the merit of the action would 
depend on the utility or otherwise of the Telephones. I have seen 
the latter eat the black cherry aphis, but I do not know its habits, 
nor does its menu appear in the books. So hard a thing is it 
with insects, as with birds and men, to label them correctly as 
good or bad. But the cock bird did a most creditable action after¬ 
wards when he took some half-grown gooseberry caterpillars which 
I put upon the railing for his benefit. 
This is a delightful way of seeing the birds without their com¬ 
pany manners; but the eye should be a friendly one. A tale-bearer 
might peach of one misdeed, and then one bird’s single sin might 
be visited on ad his family by our generalizing race. We should 
not like our characters to be judged from the actions of others that 
come before the Police Courts. Writers too often pass judgment 
on the merit or sinfulness of birds from slight observation, taken 
at one short period of a bird’s career. To do this is like judging of 
a friend’s table by the lunch w r hich he gets at a roadside inn, or by 
# The Red-hacked Shrike occasionally takes to the bee-hives, and plays 
havoc as the laden bees steady themselves for alighting at their hive. 
