222 BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



these woodland birds. Thus the jay is known by its 

 manner of going up a tree by taking long hops from 

 branch to branch; a blackbird, glimpsed in fading 

 light, can be nothing else if it gives its tail a sharp, 

 upward jerk as it alights. Just as characteristic is 

 the shuffling movement of the hedge-sparrow's wings 

 as it shows itself upon the outside of the hedge. But 

 there is a less familiar note — a plaintive " see-see- 

 se-ep," from the tops of the beeches which are still 

 splashed with fiery yellow and ruddy gold where 

 sheltered from the November gales. As the bird flies 

 we know the Hawfinch by its stumpy figure and 

 undulating flight, which almost gives the impression 

 that its big beak makes it top-heavy. And once in a 

 way, generally where there is a group of firs, we may 

 chance upon a party of finch-like birds, whose call-note 

 and general appearance at once stamp them as some- 

 thing out of the common. The glass shows that the 

 plumage of some is chiefly dull crimson, while in that 

 of others greenish-yellow predominates, also that they 

 cling to the branches in curious parrot-like attitudes, 

 as, with a slight wrench or twist, they detatch the 

 seeds from between the scales of the cones. Such are 

 the Crossbills, well called " gipsy-migrants," for they 

 appear to wander about the country in haphazard 

 fashion, sometimes spending a day or two in some 

 familiar grove of firs where we have never seen them 

 before, and where we may not see them again for 



