BIRDS IN THE GREENWOODS 251 



making any fuss about it. He is insulted, but he does 

 not wish to make a scene. Besides, he is smaller. 



The catkins, too, are now hanging on the alders, 

 and on these also, or — if any one prefers it — on the 

 insects in them, the blue-tits feed. They, I think, 

 prefer the catkins, but I will not be sure. 



Whenever practicable they grasp a catkin with one 

 claw, and the twig from which it hangs, and which 

 is their main support, with the other. Often, how- 

 ever, they grasp catkin and twig together with both 

 claws, and, standing thus, peck down upon them like 

 (" parva si magnis licet comparare ") a crow or hawk 

 upon some dead or living creature. Or, again, they 

 will hang head downwards from, and pecking at, a 

 bunch of the catkins, without any more substantial 

 support, or, with one claw grasping one twig, will, 

 with the other, hold a catkin belonging to another 

 twig up to the beak, like a parrot. The claws of tits 

 are evidently of high value as seizers and holders, if 

 not quite as " pickers and stealers." They are much 

 more than mere rivets for fixing themselves on a perch. 

 To see one of these little birds, whilst straddled in this 

 way, pull the catkin towards it, is most interesting and 

 very pretty. The little legs are so thin and delicate 

 that one must be very close or get a very steady look 

 through the glasses, both to see, and, at the same time, 

 distinguish them from the twigs. 



The coal-tit is even more parrot or, rather, squirrel- 

 like, and one can make out his actions better, for he 

 sits upright — one may almost say — on the ground 

 beneath a fir-tree, supporting himself with his tail and 

 one claw, whilst the other grasps a fir-cone at which 

 he pecks. At least I think it was a fir-cone, and I 



