i6o The Blue-Tit. 



out of a nest out of curiosity, and then replaced them. I shoiild, therefore, regard 

 a Bhie-Tit which laid twelve eggs as a phenomenon of fecundit)', and one reported 

 as laying eighteen as a myth. 



In colouring the eggs are snow-white, with the usual pink transparent glow 

 when freshly deposited : in spotting they differ not a little ; some eggs at first 

 sight appearing to be immaculate, but when closely examined revealing numerous 

 dust-like specks of light red and dark grey, principally confined to the larger end ; 

 a second variety is pretty evenly sprinkled all over with rust-red dots ; a third 

 form shows larger spots scattered amongst the smaller markings ; a fourth differs 

 from the latter in the presence of splashes of red at the larger end; finally I have 

 taken specimens in which gre}' and red-brown spots are massed into a dark zonal 

 patch at the larger end. Some of the eggs which I have found, excepting that 

 they are perhaps a trifle longer, could not be distinguished from those of the 

 Willow- Warbler ; and others, excepting that they are a size smaller, might easily 

 be mistaken for those of the Wren. It is not therefore safe to identify eggs of 

 this species, unless you have taken them yourself; and, on no account should the 

 statements of peasants be credited for a moment ; since they almost invariably 

 confound the Blue-Tit and the Wren. 



There is never any difficulty in identifying the eggs of Tits which one takes, 

 because the mother bird is usually in the nest and never far away: many a time 

 in spite of her hissing and pecking I have lifted her off her eggs and held her 

 in one hand whilst I examined the collection to see whether it was in condition 

 for preservation or too far incubated : if the latter, I had only to open m}' hand 

 to see her at once return to her dut}'. 



I know of no other bird which sits so closely as the Blue-Tit: in my "Hand- 

 book of British Oology," I have recorded the fact that on the 27th June, 1881, 

 I found the nest of this species in a cavity left by the removal of a brick in an 

 outhouse, where the gardener of the place kept his tools. The nest, when I 

 discovered it, contained four eggs only ; perhaps it was the last effort for the 

 season, for no more were laid. Each day I took one egg, but substituted a marble 

 for the last one, on which the Tit was contented to sit ; after three or four days 

 I removed the marble, and, a day or two later, the nest : what then was my 

 astonishment, about two days afterwards, to find the stupid bird still squatting in 

 the hole in the wall ; she had the sitting fever on her and meant to sit it out ! 



In June, 1889, a nest of ten young Blue-Tits was sent to me, one of which 

 unhappily came to hand with a broken leg : instead of nipping off the swinging 

 tarsus with a sharp pair of scissors (as I ought to have done) I bound up the 

 limb with worsted, the poor little mite looking up in my face all the time, and 



