30 GREAT TITMOUSE. 



During the winter months it may frequently be seen in flocks, 

 from ten to twenty in number, flitting along the tall hedgerows, 

 and in the tops of trees, attracting attention by its weak and 

 plaintive note, " Tit, Tit, Tit," a password that seems to keep 

 them all together. 



The other kinds of Titmouse are very sociable, and often feed 

 together and fly about in one flock ; but the Long-tailed Tits are 

 exclusive, and never mix with other birds. Perhaps their food is 

 different. 



The large oval-shaped nest, beautifully covered with grey 

 lichens, has usually a small hole on one side near the top, by 

 which the bird enters, but the Rev. Clement Ley has *' not un- 

 frequently found the nest in Herefordshire with two openings 

 instead of one, and both made by the birds." 



Genus— PARUS. 



PARUS MAJOR— Great Titmouse. 



This handsome and amusing bird is not uncommon in the more 

 sheltered and enclosed districts of the county. Like the Tom Tit, it 

 often chooses some peculiar situation for its nest ; and instead of 

 the hole of a wall, or a tree, will build it in the country way-side letter 

 box, in the inside of a pump, or in an inverted garden flower pot. 



The Great Tit when short of food becomes a murderer, for he 

 will sometimes split open the skulls of other birds, and eat the 

 brains. 



Parus ater — Continental Titmouse. 

 Has once occurred in Norfolk. 



