Zoology. 659 



amongst the blossom buds of my pear trees. I did not per- 

 ceive that they destroyed any of the buds : they appeared to 

 me to only strip off the outer investing scales, with a view to 

 find insects. I afterwards went and examinedj^he buds with 

 a microscope ; and the greater part of the blossom buds were 

 healthy, but some few were injured. I found in them a minute 

 transparent globule of fluid, of the texture of jelly, with its 

 centre darker than the outside. I made up my mind that 

 these minute particles of matter were the objects for which 

 the bluecaps had been seeking, and I have no doubt that 

 these globules of matter are the egg of some insect ; so that, 

 if I am right, the bluecaps had been usefully employed. A 

 pair of bluecaps, in 1829, built their nest in a hole of a wall 

 here ; when the young were hatched, I have seen them, when 

 I have w^atched them for a quarter of an hour at a time, bring 

 caterpillars in rapid succession to feed their young. Although 

 they may do harm when driven by hunger, I think them use- 

 ful birds to the gardener ; I prefer feeding them to destroying 

 them. Many persons are prejudiced against them, because 

 they will not allow themselves to think, and to examine blue- 

 caps. Bluecaps [the blue titmouse] are not very numerous in 

 this neighbourhood." — J. D. sen. April 16. 18S2. 



Of the blue titmouse it is stated, in Rennie's Montagues 

 Ornithological Dictionary, p. 513. : — "In the summer, in- 

 sects are its chief food; in search of which, it plucks off a 

 number of young buds from fruit and other trees." This re- 

 mark is either erroneous or incomplete ; for the disbudding 

 operations of the titmouse, as it is shown above, are the more 

 formidable in winter, when insects are not obvious ; and in 

 summer, when insects abound, it is probable that the titmice 

 leave the buds of all trees wellnigh unmolested. 



Bingley, in his excellent Animal Biography, has the follow- 

 ing sketch of the general habits of the titmouse family : his 

 remarks, it should be remembered, relate to exotic species as 

 well as to the British. The remarks are these : — 



" This is a diminutive but sprightly race of birds, possessed 

 both of strength and courage. Their general food consists of 

 seeds, fruit, and insects, and a few of them eat flesh. Some 

 of them will venture to assault birds that are twice or thrice 

 their own bulk, and in this case they direct their aim chiefly 

 at the eyes. They often seize upon birds that are weaker 

 than themselves : these they kill, and, having picked a hole 

 in the skull, eat out the brain. They are very prolific, laying 

 eighteen or twenty eggs at a time. Their voice is in general 

 unpleasant." 



Without undertaking to answer for its generic applicability, 



u u 2 



