December 



long ago learned the topsy-turvy tricks of the 

 trapeze, now hanging by both claws whilst they 

 examine the sides of the twig supporting them, now 

 dangling parrot-wise, tail aloft and head below, as they 

 survey the situation beneath them. At such times 

 the birds may be seen to snip off dead leaves, or to 

 strip the bark from a dead bough, when they have 

 cause to believe that they cover any of the small life 

 of which they are in search. It is not often that 

 the blue-tit will come to the ground except to pick 

 up some scrap of food, with which it immediately 

 springs into the tree again, either raising it in its 

 claws to eat it in the manner of a parrot, or holding 

 it down to the branch and hammering it like a hawk. 

 At times it may be seen clinging to the bricks of the 

 wall, and examining the mortar for any small life 

 lurking in the cracks. Not unfrequently I have 

 seen one inside a street lamp, probably looking for 

 insects which had found their death in the gas-flame 

 the night before, and were now to find sepulture in 

 the stomach of a blue-tit. 



I do not know why the name of tit-mice has 

 been given to the group of birds of which the 

 blue-tit is such a conspicuous member ; but if the 

 latter bird be compelled to remain on the floor 

 through withdrawal of the perch, often it will put 

 its head down, and move from side to side with the 

 quick, gliding motion of a mouse a resemblance 

 which it is impossible to overlook at such times. 



I sometimes compel one of these saucy little 



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