THE CRESTED TITMOUSE 275 



and life preys upon life, yet one finds there no sorrows 

 save those which are fleeting ones. The joy of life is over 

 all living things. Half an hour after the narrowest of 

 escapes from the Eagle the Grouse will be crowing loudly 

 and cheerily ; half an hour after being pursued by the 

 Sparrow Hawk the Song Thrush will be singing happily. 

 And only with consciousness and a striving to under- 

 stand the why and the wherefore does pain come. 



With the passing of the Kestrel the Crested Titmouse 

 recommenced her scolding, and with such effect that she 

 soon gathered round her sympathetic neighbours. A 

 passing Coal Tit could scarcely have shown more anxiety 

 even if its own young had been in danger, and a Chaffinch 

 called excitedly. As the mother Titmouse refused to 

 come near the nest while I was standing by, I took what 

 shelter a neighbouring juniper bush afforded, and watched 

 her from there. After a time she gathered courage suffi- 

 cient to light on the dead branch the cock had used as a 

 perch, and then at least half a dozen times flew down 

 and held on to the edge of the hollow before she could 

 bring herself to enter with the food she carried in her bill. 

 For a moment she was out of sight, attending to the 

 sanitary arrangements in the nest, then she emerged and 

 flew off in quest of more food. As it was impossible to 

 obtain satisfactory photographs of the young in the nest, 

 I removed the least active and set him upon a branch. 

 It was not an easy matter to induce him to hold on to 

 the wood with his small feet — he much preferred my own 

 fingers — but after a certain amount of patience I succeeded 

 in getting one or two photographs of him. 



A second member of the family I removed for the same 

 purpose was more fully developed, and determinedly 

 refused to sit for his photograph, calling loudly and shrilly, 

 and, immediately he had an opportunity, flying off strongly 

 to a neighbouring pine. The moment he started his flight 



