24 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



one of the smaller English birds shows this family affection. 

 Of all the pictures of birds that one ever saw, the gambols 

 of a family of long-tailed tits remain most intimately on the 

 mind's eye of the writer. Out of a rough hedgerow rose an 

 old and decaying ash-tree. As one approached its hollow 

 trunk seemed to throw up a slight and sparkling fountain. 

 The drops of water were young long-tailed tits, still small 

 enough to be distinguished from their parents. The sun 

 was bright, having just conquered an autumn mist ; and it 



LONG-TAILED TITS 



lit the colours of these light and tiny creatures into the very 

 tints of a great bubble escaped into the air. They danced 

 and flirted up and down, more in the way of gnats marking 

 time under a hedge than in the progressive ways of birds. 

 When the dance was over and the music stopped they fell 

 back on to the tree as the fountain drops to the bowl. So 

 you may see them throughout autumn and winter moving 

 in a family party leisurely along the hedgerows, always keep- 

 ing close together, often, as seen that day by the ash-tree, 

 playing together like children. Presumably the prime reason 

 of the family party, as of the great congregation of birds, 

 is mutual help in finding food and protection from enemies. 



