THE CRESTED TITMOUSE 273 



two or three eggs, then disappeared entirely from the 

 nesting site, and returned more than a week later to com- 

 plete her clutch. Althovigh several degrees of frost had 

 been experienced in the interval, every egg was hatched 

 successfully. The fact is of interest, for I have known 

 precisely the same thing occur in the case of the Long- 

 tailed Tit. The eggs of the Crested Titmouse generally 

 number from four to seven. In shape and in colour they 

 closely resemble those of the Blue Tit, but are, I think, 

 a trifle larger in size. On a white ground colour spots 

 of a red brown are implanted, the spots being more 

 numerous at the large end of the egg. In size they 

 measure about "63 by "49 of an inch. 



In addition to their alarm note, uttered when nesting, 

 the Crested Tits throughout the year call to each other 

 in a shrill piercing whistle. This whistle is pitched, I 

 think, in a higher key than the same note of the Coal Tit, 

 but has a lesser volume of sound. 



Although the food of the Crested Tit consists mainly 

 of insects in their mature or larval forms, it is fond of 

 fat, resembling the Coal Tit in this taste. When a hind 

 is shot in the forest, and is for some reason or other 

 left out for a few hours after being " gralloched," the 

 Crested Tits from the neighbourhood congregate rapidly 

 and feed greedily on the fat surrounding the animal's 

 kidneys, picking them clean in a short space of time. 

 Also when deerskins are hung up outside the larder the 

 Tits may be seen actively searching for pieces of fat. 



In spite of the frequent excursions into its country of 

 egg-collectors and gunners — I am told that a representa- 

 tive of the British Museum shot a number of the birds 

 in a certain forest recently — the Crested Titmouse appears 

 to be holding its own in its remote strongholds. Its 

 hardiness is great, and it never, even during the most 

 severe winter weather, leaves its native forests, where it 



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