The Marsh-Tit. 157 



of Finches wliicli occupied one of my aviaries ; and, after a day or two, they 

 were quite at home. Unfortunately that particular aviary was then arranged for 

 picturesque effect, with rockery, a shelving shingly bank and a rather deep stream 

 some fourteen feet in length. Such attempts to imitate nature are a mistake, 

 unless the rockery can be made of smooth slabs of solid stone easily cleaned, and 

 even then they are liable to harbour mice. The result as regards my Marsh-Tits 

 was, that the hen bird when washing, one cold day in January, 1891, either got 

 out of her depth or was seized with cramp, and I found her floating dead on the 

 surface of the water : she was not the first victim, but her death decided me to 

 abandon artistic effect in aviaries. 



The male bird lived some months longer, and made a perfectly innocent and 

 very pretty addition to my feathered family ; he fed principally upon seeds, nuts, 

 and suet ; but was always ready for spiders, as well as insects and their larvae 

 when they were procurable, and he ate a certain quantity, though not a great deal 

 of the usual soft food ; he was never spiteful ; but, if a beef-bone was suspended 

 in the aviary he would join a party of Siskins upon it in perfect amity : indeed, 

 unlike the Blue-Tit, he seemed unwilling to dispute over trifles, and if a Siskin 

 took a fancy to the position which he occupied on the bone, the Marsh-Tit 

 immediately yielded it up. 



As regards longevity in captivity I cannot recommend this, or any of the 

 Tits to aviculturists ; possibly they require more insect-food than I was able to 

 give them ; but, at any rate, I never succeeded in keeping any of these birds for 

 much over a year ; and most of them, when opened after death, were clearly 

 proved to have died from phthisis, their lungs being studded with miliary nodules. 



