66 GREAT TITMOUSE 



The hen sits closely on the eggs, and the male keeps a 

 station not far off; both of them are equally pugnacious in 

 defence of their progeny, the latter uttering loud cries of 

 anger or distress, and the former hissing as she sits. 



The young are said, after they have left the nest, not to 

 return to it, but to perch for some time in the neighbouring 

 trees, and to keep together until the following spring. It is 

 somewhat singular that the eggs of this species resemble 

 those of the Nuthatch, to which bird it also has some similarity 

 in the loud tapping noise it occasionally makes against the 

 trunks of trees, and which has been conjectured to be for 

 the purpose of frightening insects out from under the bark. 



