no SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



familiar little bird, visiting our gardens, and coming 

 close to the windows to take spiders, or pick up 

 scraps thrown to it, without any show of fear. 



The nature of its food has been so accurately 

 described by Professor Newton, in his condensed 

 account of the observations of various naturalists, 

 that we cannot do better than quote it : 



" Insects," he says, " form its chief food for the 

 greater part of the year, and Macgillivray thought 

 it lived entirely upon them ; but various berries and 

 seeds are also eaten by them, some of them, it is 

 said, being carried off and hidden for future use. 

 Thompson found fragments of stone in its stomach, 

 a fact pointing to what, on other evidence, is pretty 

 well established, namely, that this bird is more 

 vegetarian in its diet than either of the species of 

 Titmouse already described. Though most generally 

 engaged among the branches of trees, it often comes 

 to the ground in search of the pupae and larvae 

 which are concealed in the grass as well as the 

 seeds, especially those of the fir, which have dropped 

 from above. Macgillivray was informed by Mr. 

 Hepburn that it delights in examining a ditch which 

 has just been cleaned out, and that he had seen 





