1886-87.] TJie Paridte, or Titmice. 43 



rapid inarch of education, in a few years they may exist in the 

 minds of people as obsolete traditions only. As a whole they 

 are insectivorous, except when pressed by scarcity of their 

 natural food to eat seeds and other viands — even flesh at a 

 pinch is not despised. For this reason they are rather difficult 

 to keep in confinement, although with care as to diet they may 

 to a certain extent be successfully caged. The practice, never- 

 theless, savours of cruelty, as they are of such a roving, active 

 disposition as to rouse in us a feeling of sorrow when we look 

 at the little captives cooped np into such narrow prison-houses, 

 when they would otherwise be so happy in the enjoyment of 

 their liberty. The same may be said likewise of all insectiv- 

 orous species, who cannot be so readily inured to captivity as 

 the granivorse, owing to the difficulty of procuring the proper 

 food to maintain them in a state of good health. One and all 

 are accomplished acrobats, it apparently making no difference 

 to them whether they hang with their backs up or down, or 

 whether, figuratively speaking, they stand on their heads or 

 their tails. Sometimes you see them diligently working on the 

 upper surface of a branch, to shift instantaneously to the under ; 

 next minute they are clinging to the trunk like a creeper, 

 fluttering in the air like a butterfly, or dangling like a cork at 

 the end of a swinging twig, and all the time never for a 

 moment losing sight of the main object of their quest, calling 

 to each other in shrill clear notes that penetrate to a consid- 

 erable distance, especially when uttered amidst the solemn 

 silence of dark and lonely pine woods. It is chiefly at these 

 times when foraging in bands that they are joined by other 

 species, such as the goldcrests, siskins, redpoles, creepers, &c. ; 

 but concerning this companionship more may be said at some 

 future time. Their plumage is striking, being characterised in 

 most examples by clearly defined colours and decided con- 

 trasts — yellow, slaty blue, black, white, and combinations again 

 of all these, being the chief factors in forming the sura total of 

 their outward covering ; and in the cases of the great and blue 

 tits their garb is really handsome. In some the feathers are of a 

 soft, fluffy nature, and as a natural sequence specimens are diffi- 

 cult to shoot clean, and decidedly more difficult to stuff after 

 they are secured ; therefore really good and satisfactory skins 

 are seldom to be seen. Although by no means formidable as 



