132 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



or middle of February, but sometimes so soon as 

 the end of January, especially if the weather be fine. 



In its habits this little bird greatly resembles the 

 Tits, and often associates with them. Like them, it 

 may be seen holding on to twigs head downwards 

 while searching for its minute insect prey, and its 

 dexterity in clinging to the trunks of trees is very 

 remarkable. It has but little fear of man, and will 

 often permit a very near approach. A writer in 

 the first volume of the Magazine of Natural History 

 affirms that it may be easily taken by striking 

 sharply with a stone or stick the branch upon 

 which it is sitting. The timid little bird, it is said, 

 immediately drops to the ground, and generally dead. 



To see its irregular and apparently weak flight 

 in passing through the air on a stormy day, it would 

 never be supposed that so tiny a creature would 

 attempt to cross the sea, or could succeed in doing 

 so if it tried. But that it travels to and from the 

 Continent in spring and autumn is a fact which has 

 been well ascertained by many competent observers, 

 as the evidence above quoted will show. 



