ak oat 
But much of their supposed fruit-destroying propensities are due, it is almost certain, 
not to any desire to dis-bud a fruit tree or to rob an orchard, but because the particular bud 
or fruit in question already conceals a canker. It is this hidden grub which the Tomtit 
desires—a noxious insect, though to him a delicacy, and which, if allowed to live, would not 
only destroy the particular bud or fruit, but might be the progenitor of further and unlimited 
destruction. 
Similarly, their inconvenient and disordering investigations of thatch and straw are, we 
may charitably believe, dictated by a search for concealed insects, and not by desire for 
depredation nor by love of destruction. 
The slaughter of Titmice by farmer or 
gardener is, as has been well said, “an act 
of economical suicide.” 
The Tomtits are easily distinguishable 
in our woods. They all possess much the 
same sharp little note or twitter; they are 
all endowed with more or less the same 
restless disposition. They all have the 
same sudden, floppy, flappy, undulating 
flight; and, ever on the move in search of 
food, they delight in the same agile acrobatic 
movements. The Blue Tit is, perhaps, the 
most attractive. Perky, impudent, active, 
graceful, and beautifully coloured, it is a 
very charming sight to see a Blue Tit, or, 
better still, a lately fledged family, clinging, 
mostly head downwards, to the slender 
and waving boughs, rapidly examining the 
under side of each leaf and the interior of each crevice in the bark for the food they love. 
The boldest, the noisiest, the most strikingly marked is the Great Tit. The Coal and 
Marsh Tits, less brightly coloured and less visible to the eye, are nevertheless noticeable 
through their unceasing activity. The smallest, the fluffiest, the most delicate looking— 
though, constitutionally, perhaps the strongest of all—is the Long-tailed Tit, with its comically 
long tail. It is a real delight to watch a large family—and the families reared in the mar- 
vellously constructed nest are always large—wending its way leisurely through a wood. They 
travel from tree to tree, fluttering and conversing in the foliage overhead. At one moment all 
the members of the family are collected on a bough; the next, led by one more adventurous 
than the rest, off they all dart together to another tree, as though impelled by a simultaneous 
idea ; there, ever twittering, the search and re-search for insects in leaf and twig is renewed. 
At night, it is said (though I have never seen it myself) that the whole family, seeking 
warmth, squeeze together until they form one fluffy ball of feathers. 
In two ways these little birds (other than the Long-tailed Tit, which is not to be tempted 
by human artifice) can be watched to great advantage. 
A bowl filled with maize, hemp, or corn (unless, indeed, the offer of seeds of this descrip- 
tion may be thought to be weakening for their morals, as tending to bring on a craving for 
forbidden food! ) may be hung up near house or cottage ; or a lump of fat, a meaty bone, or 
a cocoanut be tied to a stick. Before long the Tomtits of the neighbourhood, attracted to 
the food, will, their shyness once overcome—and shyness is not their weak poimt—spend 
the livelong day darting backwards and forwards to the tempting morsel. Thus can their 
idiosyncrasies be watched and noted. 
The Marsh Tit—who, it must be confessed, is very fond of seeds—darts down and is off 
again, taking away the seed to be dissected and devoured in security. Neither does the Coal 
Tit care to prolong its stay. But the Great Tit will discuss his food on the spot, and, in full 
view, leisurely hammer away at his seed till he succeeds in extracting the kernel; and the 
Blue Tit, though with more haste and hurry, more jerks and twitterings, does the same. 
Another effective plan of cultivating their acquaintance, where circumstances permit, is 
to nail nesting boxes up against the trees. These boxes should be about thirteen inches in 
GREAT TIT. 
