KEDPOLE. 
117 
aider, and other trees; and they also destroy many buds, 
probably in seeking for insects hid among them. Like the 
Titmice, they assume a variety of interesting positions in 
hanging on the small and flexible boughs which bend beneath 
their light weight when gaining their livelihood. Audubon 
says of them, ‘Few birds display a more affectionate dispo¬ 
sition than the Little Bedpole, and it was pleasing to see 
several on a twig feeding each other by passing a seed from 
bill to bill, one individual sometimes receiving from his two 
neighbours at the same time.’ Occasionally they will descend 
to the ground in examination of the cones which have fallen 
down. 
The flight of this little bird is particularly light, nimble, 
and buoyant. 
Its voice is very clear and loud, and in the spring sweet 
and pleasing. If disturbed, it utters at first on rising a 
hurried chatter, and as it flies away a single and more 
prolonged note. 
It breeds in various northern parts of the hilly districts 
of Scotland and the north of England, and many other 
places. The nest has in two recorded instances been known 
so far south as Halifax, in Yorkshire, namely, in 1835 and 
1836; but the fact is that it is to be found plentifully in 
that district, and no doubt in many others, every summer. 
Once in Oxfordshire, by the Hevs. Andrew and Henry 
Matthews; twice at Melbourne, in Derbyshire, by J. J. Briggs, 
Esq.; thrice near Downham, and twice near Thetford, in 
Norfolk, in 1846, by C. B. Hunter, Esq.; and at Bramerton, 
Costessey, and Mousehold Heath, near Norwich, as Mr. Henry 
Bellars has informed me. Once at Shanklin Chine, in the Isle 
of Wight, in May, 1843, by the Bev. C. A. Bury, and another 
was found there at the same time; also in Surrey, Nottin¬ 
ghamshire, and Warwickshire. 
The young are hatched rather late, and are seldom able to 
fly before the end of June or beginning of July. 
The nest is built in a low bush or tree, such as an alder, 
hawthorn, hazel, or willow, or in heather, and is fabricated 
of moss, stems of grass, and willow catkins, the latter being 
also used for the lining, as also feathers. 
This species lays from four to six eggs: their colour is pale 
bluish green, spotted with orange brown, principally towards 
the larger end, with sometimes a few thin streaks of a darker 
colour—brown or black. 
