NOVEMBER 221 



a comfortably filled vest, then rushes up a spruce with 

 rattling of bark, flicks its tail half a dozen times in 

 defiance, and anon nibbles as it watches us with black 

 eyes and mobile nose. Now the low piping of hidden 

 bullfinches is heard, and a distant jay squalls an 

 obtrusive advertisement of his presence. But suddenly, 

 a moment later, the trees are alive with small birds. 

 A whole party of long-tailed tits is jerking with 

 short, restless flights from branch to branch. Coal 

 tits and blue-tits perform acrobatic feats on the finer 

 twigs. Several goldcrests are of the company, while 

 two or three tree-creepers devote their attention to 

 the trunks and larger limbs, always beginning to 

 investigate a tree at its base and dodging artfully to 

 keep branch or stem between themselves and the 

 observer. In a few minutes all have passed on and 

 the wood seems more silent than before. Whether 

 pure sociability or a feeling that there is safety in 

 numbers is the motive which leads to these associa- 

 tions we cannot say, but they are constantly to be met 

 with, and the units of which the foraging party is 

 composed are almost always the same. Possibly a 

 nuthatch may make one of the coterie, creeping 

 about the oak-boles, head downwards as usual, or 

 bolder movements and a stronger note than those of 

 the small fry betray the great-tit. 



On a dull day when the light is bad, any trick of 

 manner or movement is a help towards identifying 



