322 BIRD WATCHING 



during all which time I stood without a motion, lean- 

 ing on my stick, and had, at last, the satisfaction to 

 see him come perching down towards the bough, then 

 perch on the three backs just as the third had done 

 on the two, and squeeze himself in amongst them 

 so that two were on one side of him and one on the 

 other. All four now sat closely pressed together, 

 three tails projecting on one side of the twig, and 

 the fourth on the other. I sat down in the bush 

 and made this entry, whilst the birdies — surely the 

 prettiest little ones, almost, in the world — went to 

 sleep. 



" Next night, at about six, I took up my position in 

 the same place, and waited. After I had sat silently 

 for a few minutes, I saw a pair of the tits creeping 

 softly about through the bushes adjacent, uttering the 

 little chitter in a very subdued tone. One was soon in 

 the actual bush, but crept out of it again and went 

 away with the other. In another four or five minutes, 

 however, they both return, this time coming more 

 quickly and directly to the bush, when soon getting, 

 from opposite sides, to very much the same part of 

 it as before, they sidle to each other along the par- 

 ticular twig and then squeeze and press together so 

 tightly that their outline on the inner side is quite lost, 

 like that of a double cherry. Thus pressed and 

 wedged, each little bird preens itself, the two little 

 heads moving about and seeming to belong to one 

 quite round body, having one tail — for their two tails 

 are pressed, for their whole length, together. When 

 their heads turn inwards the little birds appear to 

 be caressing each other, and they must, I think, some- 

 times catch hold of each other's feathers, but it is all 



