WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



to him, and when he comes to dine the other 

 birds give way before him, for they know 

 all about the pecking power of that short, 

 sharp, stout bill of his. The winter over, the 

 tit flocks break up, the old birds to go home 

 to their nesting quarters, and the younger ones 

 to seek a home. I firmly believe that all tits 

 mate for life, and indeed that many other 

 birds do too. I am sure that pairing is no 

 light matter and that the majority of birds are 

 far more faithful to each other than is commonly 

 supposed. Only in this way can the regularity 

 with which they return to their old nesting 

 places be accounted for. Swallows and martins, 

 for instance, invariably come back to the old 

 home. My tits in the backyard pump nested 

 there for eight seasons running; then came 

 the awful winter of 1916-17, from which many 

 kinds of birds have not recovered yet. 

 Previous to that season the long-tailed tit 

 was one of the commonest birds about my 

 home. Every spring I found five or six of its 

 exquisitely made lichen-covered domed nests, 

 but the long-continued severe weather exter- 

 minated the poor little things, and I have 

 hardly seen one since and have not found a 

 single nest. The stronger, more robust great 

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