A DECEMBER RAMBLE 331 



"US an excellent opportunity of a snap-shot with 

 the camera. At all seasons of the year this 

 diminutive bird is interesting in its Mouse-like 

 habits, but at this particular season it is doubly so, 

 for the reason that the leaflessness and bareness of 

 the countryside permits us to more closely follow 

 its engaging and restless habits. Let the day be 

 ever so cold and frosty, the wind and air biting in 

 its crispness and severity, this little morsel of a 

 feathered being will make the welkin ring again 

 and again with its full blast of song, which 

 startles a Song Thrush perched on the naked 

 branches of an Oak tree and makes him pour 

 out in stern competition his liquid and varied 

 notes. 



We will hie away to the woodland in concluding 

 our December ramble, passing the stackyard as 

 we go, and noticing the noisy, cosmopolitan 

 Sparrows, the various species of Buntings, and 

 other feathered creatures here congregated. 



Arriving at the woodland, the whole place seems 

 tenanted by various species of Titmice, prominent 

 amongst which is the Blue Tit, because of the 

 constancy and continuity of its cheery little voice. 

 The sibilous chattering on our right proceeds from 

 a small company of Long-tailed Tits — mere balls 

 of feathers, with exceptionally long tails — ^whilst 

 through the Bracken and over the dead leaves 

 scampers an agile Stoat, or, with measured foot- 



