One of the writers of the charming tale of the
birds (in- cluding even the sandpiper and the jay) in Hyde Park is surely in error in reporting " flocks " of long-tailed tits. These tiny birds are not great travellers and seldom come to town. Perhaps they have never come to town in such numbers as last year ; but did they come in flocks? They have enormous families and are virtually the only species, outside the game birds, that remain in coveys, so to say, through the winter. The family connexion is kept up for many months, and the birds agree with Clough that " great is juxtaposition." It is one of the most delightful of experiences to watch one of these large families (and we know Dieu bait les grandes families) dancing up and down over a leafless hedgerow in mid-winter. The species has without doubt been multiplying consistently in the last few years.
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