THE MARSH TITMOUSE 69 



often flitting into the air to catch an insect j^assing by. But 

 this fare is varied with small seeds of many kinds ; and in the 

 late summer and autumn months it visits the different garden 

 trees for their fruit. Like the Eook, I have often seen the 

 Marsh Titmouse picking the bones and other refuse of the 

 slaughter-house. In winter wdien insect food is somewhat 

 scarce I often see the Marsh Titmouse visit the orchards and 

 pick at the stray apples and pears that have escaped the gales 

 and still remain on the trees. Old walls are often visited, 

 especially those which are overgrown with ivy and other 

 vegetation, where insect-life lurks in great plenty. Some- 

 times it pays a hurried visit to the farmyard and seeks about 

 for food amongst the heaps of old timber which are piled up 

 ready for placing under the hay- and corn- stacks ; but w^her- 

 ever it is met with the observer will find that it is by far the 

 shyest and the most wary of all the Titmice. 



The Marsh Titmouse is a rather late breeder. The Blue 

 Titmouse and the Great Titmouse have already laid their eggs 

 before the present species begins to build its nest. May is 

 generally half over before we can be certain of finding its eggs. 

 Its nest is usually made in a hole of the timber — a knothole 

 being a favourite place. I have repeatedly found it in a rotten 

 stump in the hedgerows, wdiere the w^ood broke away like 

 tinder soon revealing the bird and its treasures. Sometimes a 

 hole in the pollard willow by the pond -side is chosen, less 

 frequently a cranny in the old " dry " wall. It does not often 

 make a hole for itself unless the wood is very soft. The nest 

 is placed at varying depths. I have known it a yard 

 down an old stump, whilst very often it is only a few^ inches 

 from the opening. It is made somewhat loosely of bits of 

 dry grass, quantities of moss, w^ool, and feathers, and in some 

 cases a little hair. The eggs are from six to ten in number. 

 The nest which I alluded to above in the old stump con- 

 tained a clutch of the latter number. They are white spotted 

 and speckled with reddish-brown, generally most thickly 



