Isles. 



189 



XXXI, fig. 1; III Ed. I, pi. XXXIX, fig. 1. Seebohm, Rr. Birds, 

 pi. 9; id. Col. Fig, pi. 53. Frohawk, Br. Birds I, pi. II, fig. 71—72. 



Local Names: Tom Jit, Oxeye, Blackcap, Billy Biter, Bee-eater, 

 Nope, Saiv Sharpener; Hickmall or Hackmall (Devon). 



Parus major L. Newton, ed. Yarrell, I, p. 479; Dresser, Birds of 

 Europe, III, p. 79 and Man. Pal. Birds, p. 161 (partim); Saunders, Man. 

 p. 103. P. major newtoni Praz. Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, p. 343. 



Breeding Range: The British Isles. 



This well known bird is common and generally distributed throughout British 

 England und Wales, with the exception of the moorlands and higher 

 mountains. It is also common in the Isle of Man, and in the south of 

 Scotland, but becomes scarce in the north and probably rarely, of ever, 

 breeds north of a line drawn from Gairloch to Dingwall, although it 

 has been recorded as a straggler to Sutherland, Caithness, the Orkneys 

 and Shetlands. In the west it breeds in the wooded districts of the 

 Inner Hebrides, Islay, Jura, Mull, etc., and probably also on Skye, but 

 is absent from the Outer Hebrides. In Ireland it is a common resident, 

 breeding in every county, but avoiding the moors and boglands.* 



Although frequently breeding in the neighbourhood of houses, the 

 Great Tit is a decidedly cautious bird, and always avoids observation as 

 much as possible while visiting the nest. After the young are hatched 

 their noisy cries soon disclose its position. The commonest sites are 

 holes in trees or walls, at varying heights, sometimes only an inch or 

 two from the ground or actually in it (Zool. 1874. p. 4076, 1884, p. 

 229, etc.), but generally a few feet above it. When natural holes are 

 scarce, all kinds of artificial openings are utilized: nesting boxes are 

 readily adopted, and letter boxes, pumps, inverted flower pots, beehives, 

 holes in ironwork or statuary, and old tin cans have all been made use 

 of from time to time. Stevenson records nests on the shelf of a three 

 cornered cupboard, and Ralfe one inside an old cannon's mouth. In 

 rocky districts it is not unusual to find this bird breeding in holes and 

 crannies of cliffs, while other cases have been recorded where the nest 

 has been built among the foundations of old Squirrels' dreys and old 

 or even occupied nests of Crow, Rook, Magpie or Sparrow Hawk, and 

 it has been known to breed in a Kingfisher's hole (Zool. 1895, p. 71.) 

 All the sites mentioned above are however covered or roofed in to 

 some extent, yet occasionally it has been known to reline the nest of 

 some other bird, generally a Blackbird, Thrush, or Hedge Sparrow. An 

 open nest of this kind is figured in Nelson's Birds of Yorkshire, p. 110. 



* Macpherson records an instance of this species pairing in a wild state with 

 P. caeruleus obsciirus {Vict. Hist, of Cumberland, I, p. 184. 



