PASSERES. ( 91 ) PARID^. 



THE GKEAT TITMOUSE. 



OX-EYE, GREAT BLACK-HEADED TOMTIT, BLACK-CAP, SIT-YE-DOWN, 

 SAW-SHARPER. 



Pants major. 

 €);;'-£*£, Bee-eater, Black4jeaD. 



/ have a prefy tytmouse 

 Come picking at my to, 

 Gossuppe with you I purpose, 

 To drink before I go. 



Scrap of Ancient Song, about 1575. 



The Great Titmouse is fouud in the plantations, strips, and 

 wooded deans of the county during summer, and in winter 

 when snow is on the ground it is often seen in the neigh- 

 bourhood of our houses, farm buildings,^ stackyards, and 

 gardens. 



It appears to be a partial migrant, for it occurs amongst 

 the numbers of Titmice of various kinds which are seen 

 passing the lighthouses on the coasts of England and Scot- 

 land in spring and autumn.^ 



1 The tops and the eaves of stacks are favourite resorts. I noticed numbers 

 of Great Titmice feeding on the stacks at Nabdean on 24th December 1886, when 

 snow was lying on the ground to the depth of six or eight inches. 



* Although there can be little doubt that the Great Titmouse migrates in 

 numbers with the other Titmice which are observed on migration at the Farnc 

 Islands and the Isle of May in spring and autumn, the only record of its actual 

 identification on migration at either of these places is at Fames on 13th October 

 1882, when many old males were observed. Mr. Harvie-Brown, in a note in 

 the "Sixth Report on the Migration of Birds," says with regard to Titmice : - 

 " We wish our reporters would distinguish the species more exactly." 



