37 



V. 



TITS AND WRENS. 



Only once, in August, 1904, have I caught 

 sight of a party of long-tailed tits in the 

 garden, but a friend who lived hardly a mile 

 away used to tell me that little parties of 

 eight or nine might be seen flying through 

 his orchard nearly every winter. I think he 

 said they called them " churns," or some- 

 thing that sounded like that. 



Great-tits are common the whole year 

 round, and very handsome they look when 

 their suits of velvet-black and yellow are at 

 their best. They are constant visitors to the 

 food-stand, and are not baffled by any con- 

 trivance for excluding sparrows, but they are 

 not so plucky or so clever at it as tomtits. 

 They are hectoring, full of bustle and impor- 

 tance, and make themselves generally dis- 

 agreeable to other birds, but I have seldom, 

 if ever, seen one great-tit attack another. 

 Sometimes one sees a pair of the quietest 

 possible character; on the most affectionate 

 terms with one another they will come to the 

 stand together and appear perfectly oblivious 

 of the presence there of any other birds. 



It is not at all uncommon to see a great-tit 

 with a crooked tail, slightly sickle-shaped. 

 It cannot always be the same bird, for it is 16 

 years since I first noticed a bird with such a 



