168 WILD BIRDS 



times. It is hardly as the hover of a bird : it is more 

 like the stationary whir of a moth or of volucella 

 or syrphus. 



I am struck by the moth-like way a busy gold- 

 crest works through the birch tree. It is not the 

 style in which a long-tailed titmouse works through 

 the same tree : the goldcrest whirs and flits through 

 like an insect ; the long-tailed titmouse swings 

 through as a redpoll swings only he is not so neat 

 or sometimes he reminds me of a mouse among 

 the twigs. Goldcrest and long-tailed titmouse are 

 entirely effective in their different styles of motion 

 in the birch tree. They never miss the mark. 



THE INVITATION TO ROOST 



The first hard night of autumn find many small 

 birds cuddling in cosy spots. Now and then we 

 can have a peep at the bird getting to bed 

 when the leaf is off. Twice I have seen a pair of 

 golden-crested wrens settling for the night. The 

 first time was in spring, when the two little things 

 snuggled together on a fir tree twig, and puffing 

 out their feathers and tucking their tiny heads from 

 view oddly resembled a golden wren's nest. No 

 doubt the scraps of a play between two golden wrens 

 another evening ended thus, but I lost sight of them 

 when they flitted into the deodara. A birch tree, 

 almost bare of leaves, stood out against the frosty- 

 looking afterglow, over which Arcturus bickered 

 like a pale ruby. In the twigs were two golden wrens 

 that waited closely on each other's movements. 



