WINTER FOOD OF BIRDS. 171 



chiefly from the sloe (lichen prunastri), and the 

 maple (lichen farinaceus) ; but the inside contains 

 such a profusion of feathers., that it seems rather 

 filled than lined with them, a perfect featherbed ! 

 I remember finding fourteen or sixteen pea-like 

 eggs within this downy covert, and many more 

 were reported to have been found. The excessive 

 labour of the parent birds in the construction and 

 collection of this mass of materials is exceeded by 

 none that I know of; and the exertions of two 

 little creatures in providing for, and feeding, with 

 all the incumbrances of feathers and tails, fourteen 

 young ones, in such a situation, surpasses in dili- 

 gence and ingenuity the efforts of any other birds, 

 persevering as they are, that I am acquainted 

 with. 



We might naturally suppose that by the end of 

 winter, all those little birds which are solely sup- 

 ported by insect food would find some difficulty in 

 providing for their wants, having consumed by 

 their numbers and exertions nearly all that store of 

 provision which had been provided in the summer 

 and deposited in safety ; but I have found the 

 stomachs of the tree-creeper, and this small tit- 

 mouse, even in February, quite filled with parts of 

 coleopterous creatures, which by their activity and 

 perseverance they had been enabled to procure 

 beneath the mosses on the branches, and from the 



