50 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS 



rooms. Each tit that owns a house in an orchard is worth 

 more than its weight in gold, including the young in the 

 weighing. Even if the family is five, the more the merrier. 

 Each bird at 1 oz. and the gold at 80s. would make the 

 demand of, say, 20 guineas a just one, so valuable are the 

 services of this insectivorous genus. On no account what- 

 ever, except for strictly scientific purposes, should this bird 

 be killed or driven from a garden. Especially must we 

 consider that as a worthy labourer it demands nothing for 

 its hire, and if it expects anything it is peace. That 

 surely is easily dispensed from the storeroom of our 

 benevolence. Let me give one word of Avarning : see that 

 your honest sons are made more honest, if that is possible, 

 by the absolute protection of its nest and eggs. In every 

 way encourage the bird to spend its time about your 

 gardens — not necessarily in them, but around them. This 

 little tit, or so-called " Yellow-tail," to city people the most 

 familiar of country birds, is of a small size, and even 

 appears to attract more notice than the Ground-Lark or 

 proper Pipit. The chrome-yellow of the upper tail coverts, 

 with apex of each rectrix barred with black, makes this 

 little grey bird a distinctly^prominent one. The markings 

 are only noticeable when the birds, finding themselves 

 disturbed on the feeding ground, rise upon wing, and with 

 blended voices alight in the acacia. They quickly return 

 to the grass, and appear to have little fear of man. With 

 the aid of their tiny feet the birds move rapidly along the 

 ground in search of insects. 



This one of ten species of a genus peculiar to Australia 

 puts aside its gregarious habit about July, and enters 

 upon the work of nest-building, a structure that is 

 generally placed within 9 feet, or rarely over 12 feet, from 

 the ground. The house is most often one-chambered, dome- 



