A WHITE WORLD. 
43 
Invalid from the Usurper by opening the window or the door, 
and calling him, as then the Invalid flies to us, but the Usurper 
from us 1 
The pluckiest of all our small birds is a blue tit, whom we 
call Puck, from his impish love of teasing. We have a half 
coco-nut in a window box on our dining-room window sill, and 
it is the aim in life of this small bird not only to reign supreme 
over this tiny kingdom, but to render miserable the life of a 
certain great tit who comes to it, and who, from his magnificent 
gestures and utter inability to cope with his mite of a foe, we 
have named the Mandarin ; standing on the edge of the coco- 
nut, he sways his body to and fro like a trained athlete, spread- 
ing his wings and tail with the majesty of a spread eagle ; while 
Puck slides along, hisses, makes evil faces at him, pulls his 
spread tail, pecks his legs, hides, flits, and is here, there, every- 
where at once ! We wonder the Mandarin doesn’t annihilate 
his tiny foe. Only once have we seen him aroused to real fury, 
and that was when Puck mocked his gestures, spread his little 
wings and tail, and tried to look like him. Then the Mandarin 
turned on him, and gave him such a peck that Puck disap- 
peared for the space of at least a minute. On another occasion, 
in a delusive gleam of frosty sunshine, the Mandarin suddenly 
found his spring voice, and chirped loud and sweet from the 
coco-nut ; this so astonished Puck that he took instant flight to 
the lawn ! But the effect of the voice soon wore off, and Puck 
became as impertinent as ever. 
During this stress of severe weather we have noticed how 
many of the birds who come to us from outside for food are 
suffering in their claws or legs, and at first are unable to stand 
for long, but take their food sitting or squatting on the ground. 
A miserable looking little robin, with no tail, and looking like 
nothing but a few ruffled feathers, came to us one day last week, 
and with the proverbial lack of robin brotherly love, was promptly 
flown at by two of our resident robins, and pecked and buffeted. 
The poor little thing fluttered against the window pane (where I 
was standing) for protection, so I opened the window and gave 
it a crumb soaked in warm water, off which it made a good meal, 
and then retired into the ivy. But the poor robin could not stand, 
and a more pitiable sight I never saw. However, I see it now 
quite lively, and watching its opportunity to get a meal when 
the ill-tempered residents’ backs are turned. 
A small flock of starlings in a miserable plight bore down 
upon us one day, taking possession at once of the feeding ground, 
and at first none of them stood, but all squatted on the ground 
to eat. 
Sad, indeed, it is to hear of the suffering caused by this long- 
continued frost. When these notes are printed let us hope that 
the clouds of snow and depression may have dispersed, and that 
the tale of suffering may be only remembered as a story. In the 
meantime, whilst helping in every way possible, let us not forget 
