120 



NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



cealed between them, and that in such numbers that they quite 

 defaced the thatch, and gave it a ragged appearance. 



The blue titmouse, or nun, is a great frequenter of houses, and 

 a general devourer. Besides insects, it is very fond of flesh ; for 

 it frequently picks bones on dunghills : it is a vast admirer of suet, 

 and haunts butchers' shops. When a boy, I have known twenty 

 in a morning caught with snap mouse-traps, baited with tallow or 

 suet. It will also pick holes in apples left on the ground, and be 



BLUE TITMOUSE. 



well entertained with the seeds on the head of a sunflower. The 

 blue, marsh, and great titmice will, in very severe weather, carry 

 away barley and oat-straws from the sides of ricks. 



How the wheat-ear and whin-chat support themselves in winter 

 cannot be so easily ascertained, since they spend their time on 

 wild heaths and warrens ; the former especially, where there are 

 stone quarries : most probably it is that their maintenance arises 

 from the aureliae of the Lepidoptera ordo, which furnish them with 



a plentiful table in the wilderness. 



I am, etc, 



