WINTER PLAY OF BIRDS 315 



than either tits or gold-crests, they search for their 

 prey in the crevices of tree -bark, and their manner 

 of hunting is always an interesting sight. 



But when the whole company is bent on play, 

 it is little work that the creepers get done. They 

 fly with the band, and at every pause begin opera- 

 tions on a tree. Before they have made half a 

 dozen turns, a heightened " chittering " tells them 

 that the rest are away ; and after the company 

 they go, not wholly entering into the fun, but 

 clearly not wishing to be left behind. In their 

 normal movements there is little wing-work, and 

 perhaps they feel when the temperature is low 

 that a little " aviation " is excellent for promoting 

 the circulation of the blood. 



These wood -flocks of very small fowl do not 

 hold together all day, like the flocks of serious 

 feeders which frequent the farmyards. While the 

 satisfaction of appetite is the dominant issue, each 

 member labours on his own basis, and some of 

 them may have special knowledge of wonderful 

 stores of provision in the shape of cocoanuts or 

 suspended lumps of fat. When a fair foundation 

 has been laid, by early afternoon they come 

 together and enjoy their daily scamper through 

 the bare branches. Plodders neither by build nor 

 inclination, they defy mere weather to squeeze the 

 gaiety out of their lives. 



