104 BIRD NOTES 



injured in any way, but its eyes were glazy. It 

 was fat, apparently, but birds look fat when they 

 are not so, and the poor thing must find it dread- 

 fully difficult to find its food. No doubt that 

 was why it so steadily adhered to my ants' nests. 

 I have seen green woodpeckers at them before. 



It went on eating and pecking and pulling for 

 an hour or more, and, indeed, only flew away 

 when it was almost dark. 



February G, 1801. 



By-the-by, Mrs. Brightwen says that the cole 

 tit stores its food. I think she is mistaken. My 

 little hen cole tit, at all events the little widow, 

 who with her late mate has been under my 

 observation for two or three years does not store, 

 though she takes away incessantly till the plate is 

 empty. She looks round well first on both sides, 

 turning as on an axle, with a little skip, and 

 where she sees no bird near, thither she carries 

 her morsel, and lays it on any convenient branch 

 on the point where a twig starts generally, and 

 apparently thinks no more about it. I have seen 

 her carry it quite to the top of one of these tall 

 limes. It is not an economical impulse apparently, 

 but an acquisitive one, and it appears to be her 

 strongest. The male bird never did it. 



Are thrushes usually considered imitative 

 birds ? I suppose they all are more or less so, 



