18 THE SMALLER BRITISH BIRDS. 



vegctntion of tbe marshes, being the only one oE our British Tits 

 that is known as a rule to build on the ground. The eggs are from 

 four to six, rarely more, in number, pinkish white in colour, speckled, 

 spotted, and streaked with purplish brown. This bird like the 

 MiifHin, has a long tail, making the whole length of the male six 

 inches. The female is somewhat shorter, and has a white moustache. 



TITS IN CONFINEMENT. 



The members of this family are recommended to those who keep 

 cage and aviary birds, by their beauty, activity, and cheerfulness, but 

 they are unsafe birds to turn loose with others, as they are apt to 

 be quarrelsome, and have an unpleasant way of pecking holes, not in 

 the characters of their fellow-prisoners, but in their heads, and sucking 

 out their brains. The Oxeye and the Blue Tit only seem to have 

 this cannibal jjropensity, and they do not often exhibit it, never 

 perhaps unless pressed by hunger; but after having once done it, the 

 murderer becomes dangerous, being very likely to repeat the act, for 

 sheer love of the newly-tasted food. Bird-sellers say that only the 

 Oxeyes which have forked tails are likely to do so, but this assertion 

 may be questioned, what connection there can be between the shape 

 of the tail and a penchant for brains we cannot understand. The 

 larger Tits then, if kept at all, should be put into cages by them- 

 selves; a pair in a cage is best, and it should be of a bell shape, 

 tolerably large, with a round cavity made for a nesting place, as they 

 do not fancy sleeping on an open perch, and are apt to be restless 

 unless covered in. 



The liveliness of all Tits renders them very agreeable companions, 

 and in confinement their notes are not so shrill and harsh as they 

 generally are when at liberty. If taken quite young, and placed near 

 good songsters, they will frequently exhibit a power of sustained and 

 melodious song, which one would hardly expect. Bechstein, the great 

 German authority on cage birds, says of tjie Oxeye that ''it has a 

 varied and exceedingly melodious song," and that "even when taken 

 and confined when old, it evinces a readiness to adopt the songs and 

 the call-notes of other birds;" and, as a proof of its dexterity, states 

 that it may be taught to perform a variety of tricks, such as drawing 

 np food and water by a chain, etc. Of the Cole Tit in confinement 



