WINTER PLAY OF BIRDS 313 



and showy members of the band. With them go 

 the blue tits, relatives, but at other seasons anything 

 but allies of the friendly kind. Tree-creepers and 

 gold-crests chum with these incongruous associates, 

 hold together in company, and hunt and play as 

 if they were all brothers of the same blood. At 

 least three very distinct bird families are repre- 

 sented in the flock, but for the time being they 

 act as if they were a society with one language, 

 one nature, and of one kind. 



It would be difficult to give any explanation 

 of these curious associations except the love of 

 company and the love of play. That many birds 

 do play, all who have watched their habits know, 

 and these little wood -people indulge in it in an 

 unmistakable way. They chase one another, 

 dodging and doubling in the flight, and though 

 some of them are pugnacious in a high degree, 

 pugnacity is not the driving power in the game. 

 It seems to be just a case of high spirits express- 

 ing themselves in rapid motion, with the zest which 

 even the young human animal puts into pretended 

 pursuit. 



Gold-crests, tits, and creepers are as different 

 in dress and form as passerine birds could be, 

 but they have one character in common which 

 probably decides their companionship. They all 

 seek the same kind of food, and seek it in not 

 very markedly dissimilar ways. They are after 

 insects, and have to find them even in the dead 

 of winter. This necessity has made acrobats of 

 them all. The tits search the angles of twigs 

 and the crevices in bud -shoots. An enormous 



