COAL TIT. 443 



which they continually emit as they flutter among the branches; 

 and few persons thus falling in with a flock, can help standing 

 still to watch their motions for a while. Even the geologist, 

 bent with a heavy load of granite chips, pondering on cata- 

 clysms, central fire, convulsions, and revolutions, and dreaming 

 of the overturning of the primeval forests and their conversion 

 into beds of coal, looks up and admires the busy creatures, 

 whose thoughtless glee has disturbed the workings of the 

 mighty genius which had almost completed the creation of a 

 world. 



But it is not in fir woods only that it occurs, but also in those 

 of birch, oak, and alder ; and to study its habits, or procure 

 specimens, you need not make a journey to the desert, for you 

 will find it in almost every plantation on the skirts of the most 

 cultivated tracts. There is no part of Scotland in which I have 

 not met with it, excepting the treeless tracts and islands, in 

 which birds of sylvan habits cannot find subsistence. In the 

 southern division, in the counties of Dumfries, Selkirk, Peebles., 

 and the Lothians, it is as numerous as in the northern. It 

 feeds entirely on insects, especially small coleoptera, pup?e, and 

 larvae, in pursuit of which it sometimes descends to the ground, 

 and not unfrequently to a shrub, while both it and its frequent 

 companion the Gold-crest sometimes betake themselves to 

 thickets of broom and whin. I have never found any sand or 

 gravel in its stomach, and it is probable that the elytra of the 

 coleoptera which form the principal part of its food are suffi- 

 cient for grinding it down. 



Its flight is short, even, and produced by a continued flutter. 

 When searching for food it now and then emits a single sharp 

 cheeping note ; but on other occasions, especially in spring, it 

 has a loud clear cry, resembling the syllables che-chee, che-chee^ 

 which may be heard nearly to as great a distance as that of the 

 Great Tit. In winter, most of the individuals that have passed 

 the summer in the higher parts of the country, descend into 

 the valleys and plains, and sometimes approach farm-houses 

 and towns, seeking for food on trees of all kinds. In summer 

 they are dispersed among the woods, where, on account of the 

 dense foliage, it is difficult to trace them, unless they be of fir 



