THE GREAT TITMOUSE 
PARUS MAJOR 
Loca. names in surrounding counties : ‘‘ Saw-sharpener,” 
“ Post-builder ” (Essex). 
Stratus 1n British Avirauna: A widely distributed 
and common resident in all wooded districts; numbers 
increased in autumn by migrants. 
RapriaL DisTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s: Although nowhere so common as the Blue 
Titmouse, the present species is pretty generally distri- 
buted over the Metropolitan area, and as a transient 
visitor may be met with in the central portion. It is 
a frequent visitor to St. James’s Park, the grounds of 
Buckingham Palace and Marlborough House, Hyde Park, 
and Kensington Gardens, to my knowledge breeding in 
the two latter. ‘Thence it may be traced as a visitor 
(and possibly nesting) to the grounds of Holland House, 
north to Regent’s Park, east to Victoria Park. On the 
“Surrey side’? 1 can record it from! Peckham ‘Rye. 
Herne Hill, Battersea Park, and Clapham Common. 
Beyond these limits its distribution becomes so general 
that a detailed list of localities is scarcely necessary. As 
the suburbs become more rural and vegetation more 
abundant it becomes commoner as a nesting species, 
sometimes rearing its young year by year in situations 
close to public highways. ‘The bird is not so gregarious 
as the smaller species of Tits, and very often an odd 
individual attaches itself to a party of them. It moves 
about a good deal in pairs, and is warier than many of 
its congeners. 
There can be little doubt that many of the Great Tits 
seen within the London area, especially during autumn 
and winter, are migrants from Continental Europe, or 
perhaps from more northern localities in our own island. 
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