Perching Birds. 



43 



THE BLUE TIT. 

 iPnnis caruleus.\ 



song is sure to attract attention. In winter it frequents the woods in companj' with 

 other Tits, Creepers, and Nuthatches, and is always distinguished from its relatives 

 by its larger size and more powerful note. As a nest-builder it is one of the most 

 industrious of birds, for it will fill a bo.\ or an inverted flower pot of large size with 

 moss, and sometimes two or three nests will be found in the same bed of moss, as if the 

 bird inhabited the place for year after year and occupied a fresh nest each season. 

 The eggs are from five to nine in number, white, with red and grev (underlying) spots. 

 This is by far the most plentiful of the British Tits. It is smaller 

 than the Great Tit, and is easily distinguished by its blue crown, pale 

 green back, blue tail and wing-coverts, white cheeks and eyebrow, 

 and yellow under-surface. The Blue Tit is found ever\'where throughout the United 

 Kingdom, and large numbers migrate every year from the Continent, where it is also 

 everj'where distributed, but its range does not extend beyond the Ural mountains. 



Though chiefl}' subsisting on insect food, the Blue Tit does considerable damage 

 in the spring of the 3'ear by devouring the buds of fruit-trees, and is as much per- 

 secuted as the Bullfinch at this season. At other times, however, it is so entirely an 

 insect-feeder that great good must be done by these active little birds, though again 

 in the fruit-season it does some damage b}- pecking holes in the pears and other fruit. 

 At the same time the number of insects caught by the Blue Tits ought to be taken 

 into consideration, when their family consists of perhaps eight little ones. The nest 

 of the Blue Tit is always in the hole of a tree or a wall, and the entrance is some- 

 times so tiny that it is difficult to believe that even a Blue Tit can squeeze through 

 the aperture. Here in a rough nest of moss and grass, but comfortablv lined with 

 feathers, the young are reared, and fed entirely on insects. The eggs, from five to 

 twelve in number, are white, sprinkled with tiny dots of reddish. 



The Com^ Tit (Panis britdiniicns). This is entirely a British species, and difiers 

 from the Coal Tit of the Continent in having an olive-brown back, instead of a blue- 

 grey one. Our Coal Tit has a white patch on the nape, in which respect it resembles 

 the Great Tit, and. like the latter, it has a black head and white cheeks, but it is a 

 very much smaller bird, has no yellow on the under- 

 parts, and entirely lacks the black band down the 

 centre of the breast and abdomen. It is also a bird 

 of somewhat different habits, as far as two species of 

 Tits can differ in habits. It is much more shy than 

 the Great Tit, and except in winter, when it joins the 

 roving parties of Tits and Creepers, is not easy of 

 observation. Its plain coloration protects it as 

 well as its small size, but where it occurs it is an 

 interesting little species to watch, though. it is by no 

 means so noisy as the Blue or Great Tits. I was 

 very much interested in watching a pair which were The Co.\l Tit 



