144 Family Parid-^^. 



FAMILY PARID.^. 



THE Titmice constitute one of the most charming groups among our familiar 

 wild birds ; they are incessantly in motion, throwing themselves into every 

 conceivable position ; as easily hanging upside down by one foot as many 

 other active birds by both : on a branch they move in a jerky irregular fashion ; 

 and, on the wing, their flight is very undulating and not long sustained. 



The strength both of bill and claw in these birds is surprising, as anyone 

 who has reared them from the nest can testify : they cling to one's fingers like 

 stiff springs, and if the}' hammer one's nails with their short stout bills, one blow 

 is enough : no wonder that, when one of a community is taken ill, his companions 

 find it an easy matter to break open his skull and devour his brains ; for it is 

 not only the Great Tit which does this. 



The songs of the Titmice are scarcely musical, though somewhat varied ; for 

 they do not consist, as has been stated, of mere repetitions of the call-notes; indeed 

 the songs of the Great Tit, for he has at least two, do not include his call-note 

 at all, though one of them does introduce an approach to his alarm-note. 



The nests of the Tits, excepting when built in holes (as they frequently are) 

 are domed or cave-like structures, with a small entrance in front. The eggs are 

 stated to vary in number from five to twelve, but I know of no Tit which lays a 

 complete clutch of less than six, or more than ten ; although as many as twenty 

 may be found in the same nest, if two hens are concerned in the laying. Never- 

 theless I would not dogmatically assert, in opposition to the direct statements of 

 good observers, that twelve eggs might not occasionally be deposited by one bird; 

 but I should be inclined to believe rather that a first hen, after commencing to 

 lay, had either died or been killed, and her place supplied by a second at once : 

 there would be nothing at all improbable in this. 



