EARLY MAY 35 
this active and pretty little bird." Back- 
wards, outwards, downwards, forwards, in- 
wards, upwards, turns and skips this pretty 
blue and yellow bird in his search for food. 
He is most useful in getting rid of garden 
pests, and stays with us the whole year 
round. The tit (which is almost the smallest 
of our British birds) is best seen in the winter 
when the trees are bare; but his little 
‘tweet, tweet’ will always tell you where he 
is. It is sorrowful to contemplate that this 
little bird, though so charming in his habits 
and so attractive in his garb, should be of a 
quarrelsome and vindictive nature. But so 
it is. Let us, however, be generous, and 
attribute the combative manners of this 
little featherweight fighter to the instinct 
of self-preservation rather than to self-con- 
ceit. For though he did his best with beak 
and claw, it would be but so many pin pricks 
to the human hand that sought his hurt. 
1 Test his acrobatics by suspending a morsel of fat 
to a fairly thick piece of string: he will not be long in 
climbing down to the string to get at the food. 
