148 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



on his anvil. The nesting-site, though commonly 

 in holes in walls and old timber, is, nevertheless, 

 sometimes in such curious situations as the spout of 

 a disused pump, letter-box in constant use, inverted 

 flower-pots, etc. Such nests are to be seen in the 

 Natural History Museum. The materials are moss, 

 grass, wool, and hair, loosely put together. Some- 

 times, as when a hole in a tree is chosen, the eggs — 

 from six to ten, white, spotted and blotched with 

 reddish-brown — are laid on the decayed wood. 



The Great Tit is common over Europe, and 

 extends across Asia to the Pacific. 



The specimen in the case was shot near the 

 Caterham Valley. 



The Blue Titmouse. 

 Family, Paridce. 

 Of all the British Tits our little blue one, so 

 beautifully marked about the head, is probably best 

 known. It takes our fancy most from its amusing- 

 little ways when we see it pegging into a bone hung 

 out of the window in the winter-time, or feeding 

 with other birds on any scraps thrown out ; like the 

 preceding species, it is a veritable little dare-devil, 

 fearing nothing from any bird nearly twice its own 

 size. Havincr said so much about the Great Tit- 

 mouse it is not necessary for me to make more than 

 a passing allusion to this bird. Its distribution 

 is wider than that of the preceding species, and 

 I should say that it was more plentiful. Like the Great 



