438 PARUS C(ERULEUS. 



Ml* Weir has favoured me with the following observations 

 relative to the feeding of its young : — " On Tuesday morning, 

 the -ith of July 1837, at a quarter past two o'clock, I went out 

 to observe the Titmice feeding their brood. It was a most de- 

 lightful and calm summer morning. It is then, and only then, 

 that we can form any conception of our British songsters, for 

 then only they pour forth their notes with redoubled vigour. 

 With their melody the wdiole air seemed to resound. About 

 a quarter past four o'clock, this music so enchanting gradually 

 died away, and all was again mute. In life, however, our 

 pleasures are often intermixed with pain, for the midges, those 

 poisonous little insects, gave me much annoyance. 



" At half-past three o'clock in the morning, the birds began 

 to feed their young, which were six in number. From that 

 time until four o'clock they fed them twelve times, and from 

 four to five o'clock twenty-five times. From five to six o'clock 

 they fed them forty times, which was astonishing, as, during 

 the whole of this hour they flew to a plantation at the distance 

 of more than one hundred and fifty yards from their nest. 

 From six to seven o'clock they fed them twenty-nine times. 

 During a part of this hour they flew in every minute. From 

 seven to eight o'clock they fed them twenty times. During 

 this hour it rained very heavily. From eight to nine o'clock 

 they fed them thirty-six times, and from nine to ten o'clock 

 forty-six times. During a part of this last hour, they fed them 

 twelve times in five minutes. From ten to eleven o'clock they 

 fed them thirty-seven times, and from eleven to twelve o'clock 

 thirty-nine times, and from twelve to one o'clock twenty-four 

 times. From one to two o'clock they fed them twenty-three 

 times, and from two to three o'clock thirty-four times, and from 

 three to four o'clock eighteen times. From four to five o'clock 

 they fed them twenty-nine times, and from five to six o'clock 

 twenty-five times, and from six to seven o'clock twenty times, 

 and from seven to half-past eight o'clock twenty-five times. 

 They now stopped, after having been almost incessantly en- 

 gaged for nearly seventeen hours in their labours of love, and 

 after having fed their young 475 times ! They appeared to feed 

 them solely with caterpillars ; sometimes they brought in a 



