BLUE TITMOUSE. 167 



becomes comparatively rare or unequally dis- 

 tributed. In some parts there the wood becomes 

 more scattered and stunted, and ultimately fails 

 to grow in sufficient profusion ; and in others 

 the forest tract is too dense and extended to 

 furnish haunts suited to the liking of the Blue 

 Titmouse. It delights also in society and cul- 

 tivation, living in our gardens, and in the vicinity 

 of our dwellings, frequenting the farm and poultry 

 yard, and roosting under the eaves of ricks or 

 thacked cottages, in the rents of walls, almost in 

 any part where shelter can be found. The 

 carvings of larger buildings also serve to protect 

 it during night. For nearly ten years an indi- 

 vidual, during summer and winter, has slept 

 under the carved work of one of the capitals 

 heading the pillars which support our own front 

 door, and during the period mentioned we have 

 only known the place untenanted once or twice. 



Though we consider insects to be the general 

 food of the pari, it is by no means confined to 

 these only. In winter, when the supply becomes 

 more scanty, it is more varied, grains and kernels 

 form a great proportion of it, and we have fre- 

 quently observed the Blue, Greater, and Cole 

 Titmidl assembled together, and feeding on the 

 beech mast under the trees, turning them over, 

 and at the same time searching amidst the fallen 

 leaves, and undoubtedly procuring insect food 

 also. The poultry-yard is also a favourite resort, 

 a boiled potatoe or half-picked bone are not 

 despised, and the skeleton of a cooked fowl sus- 



