come to a tray of nuts and seeds, placed outside the window, 
that charming little bird the nuthatch—a near relation of the 
tit-mice—will commonly be among the guests. It cannot 
be mistaken for any other British bird, its form and coloration 
being alike distinctive. Its upper parts are of a delicate 
blue-grey, its under parts buff, passing into chestnut on the 
flanks. The throat is white, while there is a black line from 
the beak to the eye, and beyond, spreading as it goes. A 
relatively large beak, and strikingly short tail, are features 
as conspicuous as is the coloration. Its flight is slow and 
undulating. 
Another little bird which, during the winter, associates 
with the tit-mice is the tree-creeper. It is never seen on 
the wing, save when it is flitting from one tree to another, 
and then its course is obliquely downwards—-from the upper 
branches of one tree to the base of another. This it proceeds 
to ascend immediately on alighting, by jerky leaps. Its 
coloration is soberness itself—mottled brown above and 
silvery white below. The tail, it is to be noted, is formed of 
stiff, pointed feathers, like those of the woodpecker, and, as 
in that bird, is used in climbing. 
There is scarcely a garden—save in such as are within the 
area of a big town—which, during the summer, is not haunted 
by a little grey and white bird, with a most characteristic 
flight—a sudden sally into the air to seize some insect, some- 
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