934 THE STORY OF THE BIRDS. 
of the time, but here he is silent, as though he feared 
that he might interrupt some one. It is more prob- 
able that he fears some one might interrupt him. He 
is very much absorbed in his work when he once gets 
down to it, and boys sometimes slip up on the other 
side of the tree and throw a hat over him. He comes 
much oftener than the creepers. 
I once glanced out and found two nuthatches at 
what I then supposed was a new habit, but I after- 
ward saw that others had noted it as an old trick of 
his. One spring day some little gnats were engaged 
in their little crazy love waltzes in the air, forming 
little whirling clouds, and the birds left off bark- 
probing and began capturing insects on the wing. 
They were awkward about it with their short wings, 
and had to alight frequently to rest. I went out to 
them, and so absorbed were they that they allowed me 
to approach within a yard of a limb that they came 
to rest upon, where they would sit and pant till they 
“caught their breath,” when they went at it again. 
They seemed fairly to revel in a new diet and a new 
exercise. 
These are frequently accompanied by the tufted 
titmouse and the black-capped chickadee. This is an 
association frequently noted by bird students. There 
seems to be no reason for it, except that the birds 
are all akin. The nuthatch, however, seems very ex- 
clusive, staying down on the trunk while the others 
explore the small limbs, and frequently hang back 
downward at the twig tips. Others have noticed the 
kinglets as frequently being in this procession, but I 
