BLUE TlTiMOUSE. I43 



August the tiny leaf-miner grubs hang from the laburnum the 

 Blue Tit skilfully hovers and nips them from their life-lines, 

 and when the green tortrix swarms round the defoliated oaks 

 no bird is smarter in catching these little moths ; I have seen 

 a pair return again and again to fill their beaks with moths to 

 give to their young in a hole hard by. Seeds are eaten ; Prof. 

 Newstead watched them picking them out of poppy-heads, and 

 I have seen Blues feeding with Chaffinches and other birds on 

 spurry seeds. Bees are enjoyed, though Mr. A. Newstead, 

 when watching carefully, found that they did not kill any of 

 his bees, but contented themselves with the dead ones on the 

 ground; these they held with one foot and picked to bits, 

 apparently first extracting the sting. As a rule the bird roosts 

 in ivy or evergreens, but in hard weather will shelter in a hole ; 

 in the winter of 1916-17, when many perished, the Rev. W. 

 Stratton provided various shelters, and found birds sleeping in 

 a flower-pot hung against the wall, an empty cocoanut, a broken 

 bed bottle, and an ordinary glass wine bottle. 



The nest is in a hole in a tree, wall, stump, gate-post or 

 pump, and few birds more readily accept the shelter of a 

 nesting box ; the same hole is returned to year after year, and 

 when one pair dies another takes possession. The bird is a 

 close sitter, hissing and biting at an intruding finger ; boys 

 name it " Billy-biter." When protecting its eggs it raises its 

 crest, but this is a sign of excitement rather than anger, for it 

 is elevated during nuptial display. The nesting material is 

 usually moss, wool, hair and feathers, and the eggs (Plate 58) 

 are laid in April or May. The number in the clutch is often 

 very large, from twelve to over twenty are sometimes recorded ; 

 probably seven or eight are normal, and the big clutches are 

 laid by two or even more hens. 



The azure blue crown and dark blue line passing through 

 the eye and encircling the white cheeks to the chin, give 

 the Blue Tit a very distinctive appearance. The forehead, 



