THE PERCHING BIRDS. 153 



that rear their young in darkness, is ready early in ]\Iay. 

 Eggs, 5 to 8, f inch ; white, with pale red spots. 



The Blue Tit is easily known by its bright blue crown, 



the feathers of which are sometimes raised, and by the 



white line on its forehead. Like the rest, 

 Blue Tit. 11 .1 -^ • 



and perhaps even more than some, it is seen 



to greater advantage balancing, often head downwards, 

 on some slender branch than on the wing. It appears to 

 be found throughout the British Islands. Although nom- 

 inally insectivorous, the blue tit will, like the rest, eat 

 almost anything. The nest, a loose structure of moss and 

 hair, is found early in April in holes in trees or old walls, 

 more rarely in the earth. Both sexes incubate. Eggs, 6 

 to 12, about ^2 inch; white, with red spots. 



Confined to the Highlands, or at any rate rarely met 

 with in England, the Crested Tit has a prominent crest of 

 black and white, the throat and breast also 

 being of deep black. It excavates a hole in 

 Scots firs near the ground or in decayed stumps, the 

 nest being warmly lined with fur. Eggs, 5 to 8, § inch ; 

 white, with deep red spots. 



7. The Xuthatch. 



That remarkable and interesting bird, the Nuthatch, 

 fairly common in the woods of the southern counties, where 

 it appears to be extending its range westward, is very rare 

 in Scotland, and unknown in Ireland. It cannot easily 

 be mistaken for any other bird, for when running uj) and 

 down and around the trunk of some beech in search of 

 food, it looks rather like a large brown mouse, while the 

 reddish sides of the underparts and the white bars on the 

 tail are enough to distinguish it from other birds — the 

 w^oodpeckers, for instance, or the tree-creeper — likely to be 

 found in such situations. It is one of the most pugnacious 

 of forest birds. 



