[3 
Wild Birds Protection Act, 1894.—The eggs are protected (1896) in the following 
Counties *— 
Long-tailed Tit.--Enatann: Leicester; Metropolitan Police District, including London and 
Middlesex; Warwick; West Suffolk; Worcester. Wars: Brecon. Scornanp: Berwick. 
Blue Tit.—Scotnanp: Berwick. 
Coal Tit —Enenanp: Leicester; West Suffolk. Scornanp: Berwick. 
Marsh Tit.—Enenanp: Leicester ; Warwick ; West Suffolk; Worcester. 
The eggs of all species are protected in the specified breeding areas in the following 
counties :— 
Enetanp: Northumberland; York (East Riding); Cambridge; Chester; Norfolk; 
Suffolk ; Devon; Essex; Kent; Isle of Wight. 
In the above places any owner, occupier, or other person taking or destroying the eggs 
of the specified Tits is liable to a penalty of £1 for each egg. 
Wild Birds Protection Act, 1896.—In addition to any penalty under the Act of 1880 
the Court may now order any trap, net, snare, etc., used by the offender to be forfeited. 
Long-tailed Tit.—This bird is protected throughout the whole year in the County of 
Middlesex. 
VII. Remarks. 
Five common species of Tomtits, all original and delightful in their own little ways, 
abound in our woods, hedgerows, and gardens. The largest is the Great Tit or Oxeye, with its 
noticeable yellow and black markings ; the smallest, the delightful little Long-tailed Tit. The 
brightest coloured is the Blue Tit, with its blue markings, whilst the Coal Tit and the 
Marsh Tit are the most soberly attired. The sixth species, the Crested Tit, which is also 
plainly marked, is, as above stated, rare in England. 
The wings of these mites of birds are, fortunately, too small to be of use to the 
“feathered” woman. Fortunately also, as the Tomtit flies rather in families than in flocks, 
the farmer or gardener who, under the erroneous impression that the birds have come to rob 
him of his seed or of his fruit, may wish them ill, seldom considers them worth a charge of 
powder and shot. 
Hence these Tomtits, living a fairly blameless life, are little disturbed in their busy and 
restless existence, and are able to bring up their large families in comparative peace. Lively, 
acrobatic, fearless, pugnacious, restless, ornamental, they add much to the interest and the 
attractiveness of our country life. Indeed, it is this wealth of bird life that makes the great 
distinction between our English and the Continental woods and hedgerows ; and which, if 
the farmers, gamekeepers, and gardeners would but appreciate it, does so much to keep 
down noxious insects and other pests. 
The Tomtits clearly come within the category of birds that should be protected. Abso- 
lutely and entirely harmless I do not assert them to be. But it can be confidently stated—on 
the authority of such naturalists as St. John, Yarrell, Lilford, Stevenson, Macgillivray, and 
others, reinforced by the observation of anyone who takes the trouble to watch their ways-- 
that the good they accomplish far, and very far, outweighs any incidental harm they may do. 
And, indeed, any harm they do is mostly incidental, and done without malice prepense. — 
The Titmouse has a bill adapted both for soft and hard food, to the consumption of insect 
and of seed alike. Its food, taking the Tomtits as a class, and without drawing invidious, and 
therefore perhaps dangerous, distinctions between the different species, consists primarily of 
insects and their eggs, of grubs, of caterpillars, of spiders, and the like; and the number of 
these they will consume in a day, especially when rearing their young, 1s almost incredible. 
In the second degree their food consists of seeds and fruits of tree, shrub, and plant ; 
and, doubtless, they do, from time to time, consume seeds and grain at which they had better 
have drawn the line. 
* It is expected that other counties will before long obtain similar orders of protection under the 
Act of 1894. 
+ Besides these six, two other Titmice are rare visitants with us, V1z-; Acredula caudata, the Scandi- 
navian Longtailed Titmouse, which differs in that the adult bird has the entire head and nape pure white ; 
and Parus ater, the Continental Coal Titmouse, which has the back slate grey instead of olive grey. The 
Bearded Reedling, Panurus biarmicus, is commonly supposed to be a Tomtit, but in fact does not belong to 
that family. Formerly it was fairly common in the “ Broad ” Country, but 1s now, alas! nearly extinct. 
