It is clear that neither sight nor sound, as we understand them, would be sufficient to inform and direct them; and that the most delicate sense of such perception would be insufficient to enable them to perceive food placed, say, behind a garden wall.
I have observed that the birds usually arrive pretty constantly in the following order:—Sparrows, Starlings, Thrushes, Blackbirds, Robins, Jackdaws, Rook; though sometimes neither Jackdaws nor Rook will appear, and often the little Robin is so extremely late in his arrival that all the suitable food is eaten up.
The Tit, or Wren, or occasional Finch, seen now and then in the garden does not condescend to join or associate with such a mixed Christmas party as I have described, but comes at his own time, and in his own way. But these little birds have lately been such rare visitors, that I have not had the opportunity of making any exact observations upon their manners and customs in the parish of St. Giles.
I should scarcely have ventured to read these very simple and very superficial notes to this Naturalists’ Society this evening had I not had reason to believe that they would form the starting-point of far more scientific information about birds from one or more of its members now present.
Note, 1907.—Some other birds have occasionally visited my garden, such as Nuthatches, Redwings, Blackheaded Gulls, and a few others. As to the Gulls, in January, 1907, after a very heavy and prolonged fall of snow, some fifty or sixty of these birds, in their winter plumage, visited my garden and greedily fed upon food (bread or animal) thrown out to them. And almost filling, as they did, the grass plot, they formed a very beautiful sight. Some of these birds in their food-hunting would come almost up to the drawing-room window.
VI.
MY CITY GARDEN IN A “CITY OF GARDENS.” [53]
Norwich has long been known by the designation of a “City of Gardens.” How long I know not, but we do know that Evelyn, on his visit to Norwich in 1671, spoke of the “flower gardens in which all the inhabitants excel.” He also wrote in his diary that at this visit he went to see Sir Thomas Browne, whose “whole house and garden was a paradise and cabinet of rarities.” This garden, I believe, at that time extended from his house in the Market Place (where the late Savings Bank stood) to at least as far as the present Orford Hill, but no portion of it now remains.
It is much to be regretted that so many of the old Norwich gardens have fallen a prey to the requirements or encroachments of the builder; and that where ample space and air for flowers and shrubs, and even trees, formerly existed, there is now nothing but manufactories or houses with small back premises, or at the most, little gardens so surrounded by walls as to be little more than wells, with stagnant air and frequent showers of chimney blacks. Still, in spite of the rapid increase of the city, and the gradual absorption of building spaces, we are glad to know that—even in the central parts of the city—some of the old gardens do yet remain, and that they are still able to produce much floral beauty, and in many other ways to contribute to the interest and pleasure of those who are fortunate enough to possess them.
Of course, my present reference is only to gardens situated in the older parts of Norwich. Those who live in our suburbs will doubtless be able to cultivate and utilise their present gardens as the citizens of Norwich did theirs in the “good old times.”
I am glad to say that I (in common with others dwelling in St. Giles’s Street and on St. Giles’s Plain) am still one of the residents in older Norwich with a garden of considerable size. And in my case this advantage is considerably enhanced by the immediate proximity of Chapel Field. For this large open space of seven acres not only provides a great circulation of air, and so a more healthy vegetation, but also—by its numerous and lofty trees—invites a large amount of varied and varying bird-life.