60 BIRDS AND MAN 



them ; only when I happened to be directly in 

 the way of a bird coming towards me he 

 would swerve aside just far enough to avoid 

 touching me. 



In the evening of that very day the behaviour 

 of a number of goldcrests, disturbed at my 

 presence, surprised and puzzled me not a little ; 

 their action had a peculiar interest just then, as 

 the encounter with the pheasant, and the sight of 

 the multitude of swallows and their indifference 

 towards me were still very fresh in memory. 

 The incident has only;, an indirect bearing on the 

 subject discussed here, but I think it is worth 

 relating. 



About two miles from Frensham ponds there 

 is a plantation of fir-trees with a good deal of 

 gorse growing scattered about among the trees ; 

 in walking through this wood on previous 

 occasions I had noticed that goldcrests were 

 abundant in it. Soon after sunset on the evening 

 in question I went through this wood, and after 

 going about eighty to a hundred yards became 

 conscious of a commotion of a novel kind in the 

 branches above my head— conscious too that it 

 had been going on for some time, and that 



