Ill 

 MARSH TITMOUSE. 



Parus palustris (L.). 



Resident ; fairly numerous, but rather locally distributed. 



Probably the first mention of this bird in Yorkshire is 

 contained in the appendix to Graves's " History of Cleveland " 

 (1808), in which it is enumerated in the list of birds. 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : — 



Parus palustris. — Marsh Tit. Wm. Eddison states this to be 

 migratory near Huddersfield, and not very common ; it is frequently 

 met with in most parts of the county, though less common than the 

 three preceding species (Great, Blue,* and Coal Tits). 



Generally speaking the Marsh Titmouse is scarcer and 

 more locally distributed than the preceding species. It is 

 more retiring than its congeners in its habits during the 

 nesting season, and seems partial to the combination of 

 woodlands and water, particularly in river valleys and places 

 where brushwood is found, and low growing trees afford 

 suitable sites for the nest. 



There does not appear to be any instance of the Marsh 

 Titmouse as an immigrant at the coast, and the accession 

 to its numbers, usually noted in the fall of the year, is 

 probably caused by birds roaming further afield in search 

 of food during the autumn and winter months. 



Though generally speaking an insect feeder it has a 

 " penchant " for Indian corn when obtainable. At Burton 

 House, Masham, a bird of this species used to feed almost 

 wholly on this grain, which was thrown out for the poultry 

 during the winter of 1883, and would fly down from a tree, 

 select a piece and return to its perch, then, after biting out 

 the softer centre of the corn, drop the remainder. In time 

 the ground beneath the tree became quite strewn with the 



* In the order observed by the B.O.U. list, and followed in this work, 

 the Blue Tit is placed after the Marsh Tit, and does not precede it as 

 in Allis's list. 



