3 
the food administered in his baby’s bottle. Such observations 
account for pamphlets written to prove the House Sparrow a true 
philanthropist; and the Kook, the evil genius of the farm. I have 
seen a Blackbird catch a white cabbage butterfly, and a House 
Sparrow take flies off a glass roof ; but such things are only examples 
of abnormal food, and should only be recorded as such. 
It is doubtful whether much can be learnt from observing tame 
birds ; for they often develop a taste for unnatural food. On the 
other hand, birds are to a great extent imitative, and do not always 
discover that a new kind of food is edible, until they have seen other 
birds eating it. Thus an instance has been recorded of Pigeons 
starving, though the floor of their cage was strewn with beans ; nor 
did they touch them until a Pigeon used to a diet of beans had been 
introduced to the cage. It was no doubt through imitation of 
some specially experimental bird that the Keas in New Zealand 
became carnivorous, just as the Parrots in Natal have lately dis¬ 
covered that apples are a fruit to be desired. Still the taste for 
slugs shown by tame Pee-wits suggests a good reason for the nightly 
visits of the wild ones to the cabbage-gardens around the eastern 
suburbs of London. 
Difficult as it is to formulate a complete appraisal of merits, some 
birds are within a little of blameless life, whilst others may certainly 
be put into the distinguished service order, although they have 
some black marks against them. 
I append a roll of honour for the common birds which haunt 
around my house, for whose character I should feel safe in 
going bail. 
1. Chiff-chaff 
2. Cuckoo 
3 . Fly-catcher 
4 . G-olden - crested 
Wren 
5 . Hedge Sparrow No one would miss the amount of grain it eats 
in a year. 
Class I. —“ Saints.” 
NOTES. 
. Will clear big gooseberry caterpillars off the 
bushes at a stage when hardly any other 
bird will touch them. The only blot on its 
character is that it lays its egg in the nest 
of insect-eating birds. 
6. Long-tailed Tit 
