Inhabitants of a Hollow Tree. 79 



that flourish on the dying giant ; so does the curious 

 little tree-climber, running up the trunk like a mouse ; 

 and in winter, when insect- life is scarce, it is amusing 

 to watch there the busy tomtit. He hangs under- 

 neath a dead branch, head downwards, as if walking 

 on a ceiling, and with his tiny but strong bill chips 

 off a fragment of the loose dead bark. Under this 

 bark, as he well knows, woodlice and all kinds of 

 creeping things make their home. With the frag- 

 ment he flies to an adjacent twig, small enough to be 

 grasped by his claws and so give him a firm foothold. 

 There he pecks his morsel into minute pieces and 

 lunches on the living contents. Then, with a saucy 

 chuckle of delight in his own cleverness, he returns to 

 the larger bough for a fresh supply. As the bough 

 decays the bark loosens, and is invaded by insects 

 which when it was green could not touch it. 



For the acorns the old oak still yields come rooks, 

 pigeons, and stately pheasants, with their glossy 

 feathers shining in the autumn sun. Thrushes carry 

 wild hedge-fruit up on the broad platform formed by 

 the trunk where the great limbs divide, and, pecking it 

 to pieces, leave the seeds. These take root in the 

 crevices which widen out underneath into a mass of soft 

 decaying ' touchwood ; ' and so from the crown of the 

 tree there presently streams downwards long trailing 



