Pea-Nuts
The chief lure for the tit and most other birds is the pea-nut. Indeed, the owner of the cottage has such a beliei in this class of food that he has written a little monograph under the tide " Pea-nuts and Pine-kernels." His methods of offering them may be worth imitation. Round the verandah of the cottage are hung on little rhains small brass buckets filled with chopped-up pea-nuts or pine-kernels in the fond hope that thus he would secure that the tits and the nut- hatches would be specially and exclusively provided with dainties they delight in, while sparrows and other folk would perforce have to be satisfied with the scraps liberally supplied upon the open bird-table and with a week-end allowance of hemp-seed in the seed-hopper. It must here be explained that the brass buckets were made from brass tubing an inch and a half in diameter. They were about two inches deep, and had a cross-handle of stout wire at the top, like that of an ordinary bucket, extending about two or two and a half- inches above the rim. A few small holes were drilled in the bottoms to allow rain water to escape.
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