BIRDS 



once bjr no means rare in several localities, 

 chiefly in east Suffolk, but is now only an 

 autumn and winter visitant. Two were re- 

 corded in the Field as having been seen near 

 Ipswich in the autumn of 1902. 



3 1 . Long-tailed Tit. Acrtdula caudata (Linn,) 



Locally, Pudding-poke, Bum-barrel, from the 

 shape of its nest. 



A resident and an early breeder, often 

 commencing to build its curious nest in 

 March, when it is easily found in the bare 

 thorn hedges. 



32. Great Tit, Parus major, Linn. 

 Locally, Black-cap. 



A common resident species, which becomes 

 very tame where it is fed in the winter, and 

 will always go to suitable nest-boxes provided 

 for its accommodation. It has a curious 

 habit of covering up its eggs till the full 

 clutch is laid, and the sitting hen will allow 

 the lid of the box to be removed and replaced 

 without leaving her nest. Where traps baited 

 with cheese are set for mice in gardens great 

 tits, blue tits and nuthatches are almost cer- 

 tain to be caught unless the traps are covered 

 or sprung during the daytime. Among the 

 early signs of spring is the note of the great 

 tit, of which country people remark that ' He's 

 a sharpin' his saw.' 



33. Coal-Tit, Parus ater, Linn. 



A resident, not so common as the last, but 

 very similar in its habits, except that of roost- 

 ing in haystacks, which none of the other tits 

 <lo. 



34. Marsh-Tit, Parus palustris, Linn, 



Also a resident, but not abundant. Its 

 favourite nesting-place seems to be an old 

 rotten birch or alder stump, in which it often 

 bores for itself a neat little nesting-hole like 

 that of a woodpecker, and builds a small nest 

 chiefly made of down. As a rule it lays 

 eggs marked with larger and darker spots 

 than those of the other tits. 



35. Blue Tit. Parus caruleus, Linn, 

 Locally, Blue-cap, Tom-tit, Pick-cheese, 



A common resident, well known to every 

 one, and the word ' impudent ' suits it better 

 than ' tame,' In Suffolk all the tits appear to 

 breed but once in a year, and as the family 

 sometimes consists of ten or a dozen they 

 increase as rapidly as many birds which rear 

 two broods, A nest-box with a small hole 

 placed on a garden wall is pretty certain to 

 attract a pair of blue tits, and they more than 



pay their rent by the number of caterpillars 

 which they destroy when feeding their young. 



36. Crested Tit, Parus cristatus, Linn. 

 Mr. Hele saw one in his garden at Alde- 



burgh in the summer of 1861, and as he 

 possessed a good knowledge of birds combined 

 with excellent eyesight there can be no 

 doubt as to the identity of the bird. A second 

 was shot at Melton in 1873 and seen by Dr. 

 Babington (ZWa^rf, 1890, p. 21 1) 



37. Nuthatch, Sitta casta. Wolf, 



A resident in the strict sense of the word, 

 as there appear to be no records of its migra- 

 tion anywhere in England, and it does not 

 find a place in the list of nearly 400 species 

 seen or obtained on Heligoland, It has a 

 singular habit, unique among British birds, of 

 plastering up the entrance to its nesting-place 

 with clay, leaving only a hole just large enough 

 to allow it to pass in and out, and it also 

 uses an unusual material for its nest, which is 

 simply a heap of the scales of the Scotch fir. 

 Like the great tit it will readily take advan- 

 tage of a nesting box, and will also come to a 

 window for food. No bird is more amusing 

 to watch than a nuthatch when feeding, and 

 no bird can take better care of itself, as even 

 the sparrow stands in awe of the long sharp 

 bill which can ' hack ' a hole in the shell of a 

 hazel nut. The name ' nuthatch ' means the 

 ' hacker of nuts,' and the bird is often mis- 

 called a ' tree-creeper ' or a ' woodpecker.* 



38, Wren, Troglodytes parvulus, K. L, Koch. 

 Locally, Tittereen or Magareen, which may 



be corruptions of Titty Wren and Maggie 

 Wren. 



A hardy little resident, which seems able 

 to find food even in hard winters, as it never 

 comes to be fed. Records of its migratory 

 movements have been received from the 

 Corton and Shipwash light-vessels, and also 

 from the Orford lighthouse, 



39, Tree-Creeper, Certhia familiarls,\J\vm. 

 Locally, Creep-tree ; Dr. Babington also gives 



Bark-runner, 

 This little bird is almost as much a resident 

 as the nuthatch, and is fairly common through- 

 out the county wherever trees suitable to its 

 habits are to be found. It usually builds 

 behind a loose piece of bark on an elm, and 

 has often been known to use an artificial site 

 of this kind. Two nests, both containing 

 eggs, have been seen in places thus constructed 

 on opposite sides of the same elm tree. The 

 eggs of the tree-creeper much resemble those 



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