BLACK-HEADED BIRDS. 45 



among tlie heterogeneous bands oL' Tits, (Joldcrests, 

 and Tree-Creepers which pass tlirough our gardens. 

 The large white nape-patch on the otherwise black 

 hind-neck is the distinguisliing mark of a Coal-Tit. 



GItKAT TIT— 6 inclies ; white nape-patch small; ui)p<!i- 



partH j,'ioen and hhie ; undor parts bright yellow, with 



heavy black central breast-band. 

 MAKSII-TIT — 4^ inches ; shares the soberer colours of the 



Coal-Tit, but the nape is entirely black. 

 BLUE TIT — 4^ inches ; green and blue above ; sides of face 



white, divided l»y a dark stripe through the eye ; under 



parts bright yellow. 



MARSH-TIT. —Form, like the Coal-Tit (plate 22). 

 Length, 4^ inches. Head, nape, and chin black ; 

 cheeks, sides of neck, and under parts dull-whitish ; 

 back grayish-brown ; wings and tail duskier. Resident. 



Eggs. — 5-8, or more, white, spotted with reddish- 

 brown, more thickly at the larger end ; •(;! x -47 inch 

 (plate 123). 



Nest. — Of moss, wool, hair, and willow-down, placed 

 in a hole in a tree, chiefly the willow and the alder, 

 or in a decaying stump. 



Distribution. — General in England and Wales ; 

 local in Scotland, chiefly in the south ; in Ireland, 

 from east to north-east, rare. 



The Coal-Tit has a large white nape-patch, the 

 Great and Blue Tits less conspicuous ones ; the Marsh- 

 Tit's distinction is that, its black cap extending com- 

 pletely down the nape, it has no wJdte nape-patch at 

 all. Lacking the bright colours of the Great and 



