Chaptkr XV'l. 



THE TIT FAMILY. 



Two or three days ago Pants Minor, the lesser tit, very 

 obligingly came before my windows with a mute suggestion 

 thatthereareotherhome-stayersamongst the birds of Kiangsu, 

 besides the Hnches. "Won't you say some thing about me?"' 

 That, in few words, was the message conveyed. That Mrs. Tit 

 intended it is more than I can say. I have may own theory of 

 inspiration, however. 



In any case, there she was. almost commanding inspec- 

 tion. In a dozen pretty ways she courted attention. "See what 

 I can do, and watch me do it I" That washer invitation, and 

 then she proceeded with her "turn," as they would say in the 

 music hall. She gave a practical exemplification of the art of 

 finding insects and caterpillars. She crept along the branches 

 looking fift>' ways at once, and making little darts when- 

 ever something good caught her eye. No crack in the bark 

 escaped her. and, now and then, it was evident that some six- 

 legged creature, which would do no good to the tree, was 

 seizedand transferred into that marvellous receptacle, a bird's 

 crop. Then it was the turn of the twigs and leaves. At times 

 even single leaves were carefully examined, the little bill 

 picking here and seizing there, its owner the while turning 

 herself into all the possible and impossible attitudes which 

 onlytitsand such-like ethereal creatures are capableof assum- 

 ing. Twigs bend with the weight, tiny as it is. But that 

 matters nothing. Mrs, Tit is as much at home upside down as 

 she is the other wa\'. She hangs by the slenderest of sup- 

 ports, she twists, she turns, now on terra finna so to speak, a 

 moment aftei'toall intentsand purposeshangingby nothing, so 

 slender is the support she has found, the tiny petiole of some 

 delicate leaf. But in all her attitudes, unstudied as they are, 

 sheisa model ofgrace. Herposes,unrehearsedandunthought- 

 of, are such as might bring a twinge of en\y to the most 

 graceful of the other biped kind. 



She was giving the whole of her attention to a so-called 

 Chinese ash, which is not an ash at all, but whose botanical 

 name has escaped recollectio n for the moment. It is on these 

 trees evidently that the tits find most of what they want. A 

 beautifully clothed Sebifera growing close by, with its deli- 



