Titmice. 17 



W. Jekyll then read the following Paper on "Titmice." 



TITMICE. 



EvERVONE must Ivnow some of the birds belonging to the genus 

 Pari (Titmice) whose characteristic habits mark them as peculiar 

 among English birds. They are a numerous and prolific tribe, 

 some of the species laying from eighteen to twenty eggs at a time. 

 Most of them feed on seeds, fruits, and insects, and some on flesh. 

 They are particularly fond of the brains of other birds, which they 

 get by cleaving the skulls of birds, which they either find dead or 

 kill with their sharp beaks. They are restless and bold, cruel to 

 birds smaller than themselves, and even bold enough to attack 

 birds more than double their own size. Their note is somewhat 

 unpleasant. 



This is a very general outline of their character; but my object 

 is to examine some of the more minute details of the species well 

 known to us, especially noticing the blue and long-tailed titmice, 

 with which almost everyone must be best acquainted. I'he blue 

 titmouse inhabits the whole of Europe except the most northern 

 parts, and is found in hilly countries rather than in more 

 mountainous ones. We see them in pairs in the spring, and 

 in flocks for the rest of the year. It need hardly be mentioned 

 that the blue titmouse remains with us all the year round, and 

 intrudes itself most upon our notice in the winter months. 

 Birds of this species associate much with golden-crested wrens 

 and creepers, and like them are seldom seen on the ground, all 

 their habits being arboreal. On the Continent many of these 

 birds migrate to the south in autumn to escape the cold. Their 

 natural food is grain, but they are fond also of flesh in any 

 state. In spring and summer they do an immense deal of good 

 in picking out caterpillars, moths, spiders, and other insects, and 

 their larvae from the bark of trees (especially orchard trees), and 

 although they do harm by destroying some of the young buds, 

 this is more than compensated for b}' the good they do in extermi- 

 nating insects, which otherwise would do the greatest injury to the 

 trees. In some districts of Gloucestershire, where there are exten- 

 sive orchards, they have tried killing the titmice, saying that the 

 harm they did the trees was irreparable. The consequence of this 

 most impolitic step was that the trees were so covered with noxious 



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