102 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



more than a foot distant from the Tit, took no further- 

 notice of him. On the following morning, near the same 

 place, I saw two Blue Tits, and one of them came from a 

 position about half-way up an elm tree, and descended in 

 a graceful swoop, on motionless wings, to a lamp-post on 

 the other side of the road. On no other occasion have 

 I seen any Titmouse exhibit this peculiar gliding flight, 

 which in this case was presumably intended for the pur- 

 pose of display ; but if such behaviour is likely to incite 

 the attacks of other species, it probably will never become 

 prevalent in the Tit. It is, of course, with some other 

 birds habitual." Continuing his remarks in the Zoologist, 

 1897, he says : " In the Zoologist for 1896 I recorded the 

 unusual habit of a Blue Tit in soaring on motionless 

 wings from perch to perch. I afterwards saw this bird 

 often, and this year (1897) it exhibited exactly the same 

 behaviour. On one occasion it rose from the top of an 

 oak, and then sailed along, in the manner of a Tree-Pipit, 

 to the top of a lower tree. The best ' sail ' it executed 

 was when passing over a road to the lamp-post in which 

 its nest was afterwards built ; it was going against the 

 wind, and seemed to creep along the air in a charmmg 

 manner, and was closely followed by another Tit, to 

 which it had been addressing ardent call-notes. The 

 Blue Tits here nest in the lamp-posts. The lamplighters 

 tell me they all rear their young, and I lately heard the 

 cry of a young one from the top of a lamp-post, and 

 several others, just able to fly, were around the spot. An 

 old Tit occupies about a minute in descending and re- 

 ascending a lamp-post, and probably it proceeds by 

 rapidly hopping from side to side ; there is not enough 

 space for the spreading of its wings." 



This summer, 1906, a pair of Blue Tits took possession 



