176 THE TITMOUSE FAMILY 



As to the cunning of titmice, is not that a Hght fault 

 indeed in this wee bird which disappears in the bigness of 

 the great forest, where it is constantly obliged to defend 

 itself and family against the attacks of such marauders as 

 the night-owl and the squirrel ? Pheasants too are sly and 

 cunning, but this takes away none of their solid and va- 

 liant merits. If perchance, pressed by famine a titmouse 

 pierces the skull of a dead or dying bird, it is not we, who 

 are such ferocious hunters and anglers, who have the 

 right to cast this into its teeth or to accuse it of a crime. 



To eat or to be eaten is a terrible dilemma, which does 

 not allow him who is driven into it, to give himself up to 

 excessive sensibility. I should like to see those moralists 

 who accuse titmice ot cruelty, thrown without food or 

 clothing into a wilderness, and under the necessity of get- 

 ting their food by the strength of their nails !... 



The truth is that titmice are very sociable. A\ hether 

 they have a taste for society, or whether the sense of their 

 weakness makes them congregate together, is more than 

 we can say ; but it is sure that they are fond of the society 

 of their equals and take their flight in larger or smaller 

 troops. ^^Tlen perchance some accident has separated them, 

 they quickly utter their call and are promptly reunited. 



^^ hilst I was meditating on the faults and qualities ol 

 titmice, 1 happened to be an eye-witness to a sample of 

 those beautiful relations which are established among the 

 different members of this family. 



