The Blue-Tit. i6i 



repeatedly sa3ang in a most piteous voice, or so it seemed to me at the time — 

 " Ye mustn't forget." The leg united and formed a stiff joint, but unfortunately 

 the claws got in the bird's way when it attempted to fly, so that at last its chief 

 pleasures consisted of eating and bathing, and one morning I found it sitting up 

 dead in its bath; possibly cramp may have attacked its one useful leg and kept 

 it in the cold water until the chill had killed it. Of the remainder two died the 

 da}' after I received them, one a month later, and a fifth was still delicate at the 

 end of July ; the five others by this time were quite independent, were as tame as 

 white mice and infinitely more amusing (indeed for several months they fonned 

 the principal attraction to my visitors) they used all to come down upon me the 

 moment I entered the aviary, evidently regarding me as a museum of curiosities 

 especially designed for their delectation. They would all sit together feeding out 

 of the palm of my hand ; only, every now and then, they would hop on to one of 

 m}' fingers and begin to hammer at the quick of the nail, which compelled me 

 to interfere ; then all five would fly up to the rim of my wideawake and hop 

 round, trjdng to pull the ribbon to pieces ; next I should feel one drop to my 

 shoulder, when it would hop to the collar of my coat and pull my ear, or my 

 hair. Another favourite occupation was, to start from the bottom of my waistcoat 

 and carefully examine and test every button, pull at my watchchain, peck at 

 the outer rim of each pocket, then back to m}^ hand, whence the}' would travel 

 by little zigzag hops along my arm to my shoulder. 



Seeing how tame these hand-reared Tits were, I caught twenty others, which 

 I turned in with them ; and, although these also became tame enough to feed 

 from my hand, they never acquired the confideiice of my nestlings. Alas ! charming 

 as these birds were, they were short-lived : I had provided numerous warmly 

 furnished boxes for them to retire to at night, but they would not behave in 

 an aviary as they do out of doors, each claimed its own box and fought all 

 would-be intruders ; so that, as the nights grew colder, they were quite unable 

 to keep warm, and dropped off one at a time : moreover, no sooner did one 

 of them become ill and lie in bed in the morning, than callers began to drop 

 in to breakfast (not with the invalid, but) upon its brains : this I proved 

 repeatedly. Out of doors the whole family would have crept into one hole, or 

 into the warmer side of a haystack, and all would probably have survived ; but 

 good living made them selfish and high-minded, and disaster followed. On the 

 15th December only one remained alive, and a severe frost, lasting for twenty- 

 two days, in the early part of 1890, killed him : I have given up keeping Blue- 

 Tits since that time. 



