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 — ^wiU 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 Hne 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 httle grey and white bird, with a most characteristic 

 flight — a sudden sally into the air to seize some insect, some- 



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