2ao BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



seems at times a strain of pensive sadness in the 

 robin's song, in keeping with " the melancholy days, the 

 saddest of the year." The questioning pose of its head, 

 as it regards us with bright, full eye, seems to speak 

 an intelligence beyond that of most feathered things, 

 so may the robin not possess a soul attuned to nature's 

 moods ? On foggy mornings the hedge-sparrow 

 sings, and the goldcrest's note calls attention to its 

 tiny personality as it darts into the air to catch gnats, 

 or explores in search of spiders the inmost recesses of 

 a furze-bush, all gemmed with dewy gossamers. A 

 peculiarity of the goldcrest, which it shares with one 

 or two others of the very smallest birds, as the tree- 

 creeper and coal-tit, is that at times it seems absolutely 

 indifferent to one's presence, so that it may be watched 

 from a distance of three feet. Whether it is pre- 

 occupation, or a faith that the observer, like the law, 

 de minimis non curat, certain it is that a coal-tit 

 busily hammering at an acorn, or a tree-creeper 

 running up an old mossy wall, has more than once 

 allowed us to come so near that we could all but touch 

 it. These small birds seem to spend a large part of 

 the winter in ranging the woods in company. One 

 may pursue the forest path for "half an hour, hearing 

 no sound but that made by the few leaves still upon 

 the trees tap-tapping in readiness to join the drifted 

 ranks of those which have fallen, and seeing no living 

 thing but a squirrel which sits with paws folded over 



