62 WILD LIFE AT HOME. 



filled it up so much that the eggs could be easily 

 identified without the aid of artificial light. This 

 year a pair of great tits took possession, and their 

 nest was so elevated that the sitting bird could 

 easily be seen. This circumstance yielded some in- 

 teresting information in regard to her habits, but I 

 regret to say it ultimately proved fatal to her. 



When anyone looked into the hole the brooding 

 tit puffed herself out to twice her natural size, 

 and went off in the most extraordinary hissing 

 explosions, the force of each of which spread her 

 tail out against the rotten inner walls of the hollow 

 tree like a little fan. She appeared to inflate 

 herself with air, and then suddenly eject it and 

 collapse. After five or six explosions she became 

 exhausted, and each succeeding effort to terrify away 

 the inquisitive intruder grew more feeble. 



One evening, when the young had been hatched 

 out and their parents were busily engaged in feed- 

 ing them, we fixed up our artificial rubbish-heap 

 close beside the tree with the intention of photo- 

 graphing them as they entered and left the hole, 

 but the lack of a sufficiently strong light and the 

 very rapid movements of the birds prevented us 

 from making any studies on that occasion. We 

 ascertained, however, that the male was much 

 bolder than the female in approaching the nest, 

 and that whenever the latter got tired of waiting 

 about with her live caterpillars, she swalloAved them 

 and flew off in search of a fresh supply. 



