COAL-TITMOUSE. 135 



one nest, and ten in another, though two of the latter were so 

 small that it looked as if a Blue Tit had helped to swell the 

 number. Indeed it seems likely that two hens are responsible 

 for these large broods. The eggs, white with few or many 

 reddish spots (Plate 58), differ from those of other tits in size 

 only ; second broods are rare, and the clutch is seldom complete 

 until early in May. Newstead found that the young were 

 largely fed on caterpillars ; in one instance mainly those of the 

 defoliating winter moth and mottled umber. From the number 

 cf visits paid in one day he estimated that whilst the young 

 were in the nest between 7000 and 8000 grubs were destroyed, 

 and, as Miss Turner points out, this is a low estimate, for they 

 are fed long after they leave the nest. 



The head, neck and a streak of varying width from the chin to 

 the centre of the otherwise white under tail-coverts is glossy 

 blue-black ; the cheeks and ear-coverts are white ; a pale, often 

 white, nape spot shades into yellow and then into olive-green 

 on the back and mantle ; the rump, tail and most of the wing 

 are blue-grey. On the wing is a very conspicuous white bar, 

 and the outer tail feathers are white-edged. The under parts, 

 except for the black streak, are sulphur-yellow. The bill is 

 black, the legs and feet lead-blue, and the irides dark brown. 

 There is only one moult, in autumn ; the bright plumage of 

 spring is acquired by abrasion. The sexes are alike, and the 

 young are duller, with the black replaced by dark brown and the 

 white suffused with yellow. Length, 57 ins. Wing, 2*9 ins. 

 Tarsus, '8 in. 



Coal-Titmouse. Parus ater Linn. 



The typical Coal-Tit breeds in Europe and northern Asia 

 and on migration has been recognised a few times in England 

 and Scotland, though it has probably reached us more frequently 

 and been overlooked. The British form, P. a. britannicus 



