' BOTTLE. TITS' 10 



The long-tailed one allowed the claim and grace- 

 fully flew away, to my great regret. 



There appears to be a great antagonism between 

 these two species of tit. I saw 6'ne day what 

 seemed to be a pitched battle going on between 

 two little armies of them in some larches, of 

 which tree there is a small wood further up the 

 river. In that case the blue tits were driven off. 

 or at all events they took to flight en masse, and 

 left the others in possession. But the chatter- 

 ing and fluttering there was about it ! 



Most birds seem to be afraid of the sharp bills 

 and the resolution of the blue tit. I have seen 

 robins, sparrows, chaffinches, and even the nut- 

 hatch fly before it. A very spirited little bird is 

 the graceful long-tailed tit (' bottle-tits,' as we 

 called them in Berkshire, from the form of their 

 exquisite nest), very lovely, and withal aristocratic- 

 looking ; the blue tit looks extremely plebeian 

 beside it. Alas, since the bitter winter of three 

 or four years ago, I have seen but few of them. 

 The golden-crested wren too has become very scarce 

 since then. The long-tailed tits are not birds that 

 frequent the neighbourhood of houses much, but 

 flocks of them families, I should say, of ten or 

 twelve used formerly to pass through my garden 

 now and then, lingering and fluting among the 

 trees. 



c 2 



