138 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



headed Willow-Tit. In mixed winter flocks seldom more than 

 one or two Marsh-Tits are present, and parties of this species 

 alone are infrequent. Its performances in the bushes and 

 branches are just as neat and agile as those of other tits ; it 

 often hangs upside down by one leg. Like the others it has a 

 large range of vocal utterances ; it has a quick sip^ sip, sip., 

 metallic and shrill, a loud lay, tay, tay, described as the alarm 

 note, and a subdued sis, sis, sis, see, called the song. To my 

 mind the up and down loud, rather harsh double note, repeated 

 four or five times and corresponding to the saw-sharpening of 

 the Great — cheevi, cheevi, cheevi — deserves the title song ; 

 this may be heard in autumn as well as in the earlier months. 

 The food is animal or vegetable ; destructive weevils and other 

 beetles, coccids and gall-insect larvae are eaten, and seeds of 

 various kinds, including those of the thistle. When maize is 

 provided for the Pheasants the Marsh-Tit comes for a share ; 

 it carries a grain to a branch, holds it firmly and picks out the 

 " eye," drops the rest and flies down for another. 



The nest is occasionally in a rat- or other hole in the ground, but 

 the bird is more of a tree species than some of its relatives. It 

 selects a hole in a rotten willow or other trunk or stump for choice, 

 and though it is uncertain if it ever starts a hole, it undoubtedly 

 enlarges the hollow, carrying the chips to a distance before 

 dropping them. The hole may be within a foot or two of the 

 ground or high up in a tall tree. Wool, hair, far and moss are 

 felted together, and occasionally willow-down is added, but the 

 quantity of material used is variable. Five to nine eggs of 

 the usual tit type (Plate 58) are laid late in April or in May, 

 and second broods are recorded. The bird sits closely ; I have, 

 after receiving savage pecks, lifted one off the nest ; when 

 released it at once called loudly, no doubt expostulating. 



The head and neck are glossy blue-black, though hardly so 

 steel-blue as in the Coal-Tit ; the chin and upper throat are 

 black, the feathers of the latter edged with white. The cheeks 



