MARSH-TITMOUSE. 39 



pecking at a stick or anything else which may be 

 inserted in the hole, which have been noticed as 

 characteristic of the Great and Blue Tits. It breeds in 

 holes in trees, generally near the ground, in old stumps 

 and gate-posts, the thatch of huts and hovels in waste 

 places, and sometimes in walls, and lays about nine 

 eggs the first week in May. 



BLUE TITMOUSE. 



PaRUS CiERULEUS, LimifBUS. 



Local Names — Xope, Blue Nope, Mope, Blue Mope, 

 To)ii-tit, Tit-nope, Tom-tit No2)e, Jitty-fa. 



Eesident, and everywhere the commonest of the Tits 

 at all seasons of the year. It nests in all sorts of curious 

 situations, appropriating any old stump with a suitable 

 hole in it, and readily taking to boxes if specially fixed 

 for its use. A Manchester correspondent of the Mag. of 

 Nat. Hist, for 1832 closely watched some Blue Tits 

 breeding in boxes he placed for them, and before incuba- 

 tion began, the eggs were always covered in the morning, 

 after the fresh one was laid. The fieces of the young 

 were alwaj's carefully removed as soon as voided. In 

 one instance the female was killed after the 3'oung were 

 hatched, and they were forsaken by the male and died. 

 Very different this from a Long-tailed Tit observed by 

 Mr. Thomas Garnett, which (its mate being destroyed) 

 brought up a numerous family by its own unwearied 

 exertions. The Blue Tit begins to lay its eggs about the 

 1st of May, and they are usually ten in number, though 

 I once took thirteen from a single nest. It is very fond 

 of feeding on the insects which frequent the alder. 



