214 PERSONALITY IN BIRDS 



aware of my presence, it was never wholly convinced 

 that I was aware of its own. 



How wrapped up in themselves and their pursuits 

 do small birds at all times seem to be the Common 

 Wren and Gold-crest worming their way through 

 the mazy hedgerow ; the Tree-creeper, gliding 

 mouse-like up the furrowed bark of stout-boled 

 trees ; the Long-tailed Tit with its short bill pressed 

 in apparent osculation against every spot from which 

 it takes a morsel of its insect food ; the Blue, the 

 Coal and the Marsh Tits, clinging and clambering, 

 parrot-like, with all manner of extravagant posturings 

 in the life-long search for hidden food. All these 

 smallest of birds wear in the presence of man an air 

 of absorption in their own pursuits, as of creatures 

 free to move interstitially, as it were, among the 

 grosser objects of human observation. Theirs is the 

 immunity of the very small from molestation by the 

 very great, and if a man thrusts himself obtrusively 

 upon their notice, their attitude is one of surprise 

 rather than of distrust or resentment, as in larger 

 birds. They thought they were invisible, it seems 

 to say ; they are astonished at their own conspicuous- 

 ness ; they will go a very long way off ; and so they 

 cross the lane to the opposite hedgerow, or flit into 

 the ample solitude of the next shrub or tree. The 

 Great-tit great with a six-inch greatness already 

 evinces the possession of a wider horizon. If he 

 still submits to near scrutiny, it is from a natural 

 boldness rather from a lack of vigilance, as his often 

 insolent stare will convince you. 



The tribe of the Titmice, consisting almost entirely 

 of these smallest of birds, becomes typical of the 



