52 GREAT TIT. 



eggs roll out and are smashed. It is not always easily- 

 found, for its similarity in colour to the bough from 

 which it is suspended, added to the fact that it is often 

 nearly hidden beneath the sprays above it, makes it 

 very likely to be passed by. 



The eggs, four to eleven, are smaller than those of 

 any other British bird, and very little larger than peas ; 

 they are rather round in shape, of a brownish or 

 reddish white, darker at the larger end. 



The plumage of the Goldcrest is olive green on the 

 upper parts ; the under parts are a greyish white, tinged 

 on the breast with yellow. On the top of the head 

 the feathers are a brilliant orange yellow. The wings 

 with a bar of white across them are purplish brow^n, 

 tipped with yellow. 



GREAT TIT. 



PARUS MAJOR. 



Family Passerid^. Sub-family Paring. Genus Parus. 



Oxeye — Great Titmouse — Blackcap — Tomtit — Great Black- 

 headed Tomtit. 



The Great Tit is the largest among our Titmice, 

 being about five and three-quarter inches in length. It 

 is common throughout the wooded districts of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, and remains with us throughout 

 the year. It is a lively bird and is hardly ever seen still. 

 In searching after its food it seems to assimie nearly 

 every attitude conceivable, clinging one moment to a 

 bough head downwards, the next swinging suspended 

 at the end of a twig peering for insects beneath the 

 leaves, now upright, now upside down, ever on the 

 move as it flits from tree to tree ; this is the Great 



