THE CRESTED TITMOUSE 271 



ing in her mouth a succulent caterpillar which she ham- 

 mered repeatedly on a branch whenever it showed signs 

 of protest. She very rarely uttered her alarm cry. 

 From time to time both birds flew off together as though 

 to discuss the next move, but soon returned with undu- 

 lating flight. After standing for a time on the dead tree 

 in which his nest was situated, the cock often moved off 

 to a small fir near, balancing himself, with legs planted 

 wide apart, on the topmost branches or searching actively 

 for the small " aphis " on which the birds seemed to feed 

 very largely. Sometimes the bird summoned up suffi- 

 cient courage to drop down and cling on to the edge of 

 the hollow in which his young were waiting expectantly 

 to be fed, but he would not actually enter the hole while 

 I was there. 



When I moved off a little way, however, both birds 

 entered the nest fearlessly, taking small notice of the 

 camera. On one occasion they seemed to be accompanied 

 by a Coal Tit, the latter probably having been attracted 

 to the scene by their anxious cries. It was only occasion- 

 ally that the cock appeared with food while I was at the 

 tree, and then he soon got tired of holding the grub in 

 his beak and made a meal of it, cleaning his bill carefully 

 on a branch after his repast. I noted that when the hen 

 returned from a foraging expedition and found that I had 

 taken up my position near the tree, she at once flew off 

 to search for her mate, evidently relying upon him for 

 support and for guidance. 



If I remained for long at the nest the birds, especially 

 the female, drooped and quivered their wings, from anxiety, 

 I think. In appearance the two birds closely resembled 

 each other. Each had the same prominent crest, which 

 appeared to be raised or depressed at will. Each, too, 

 had the same black collar and tie and the same grey head. 

 It was only occasionally that the male Titmouse uttered 



