104 IN NATURE'S WAYS 



movements, as often hanging head downwards on a 

 tree as right side up, fond of company, and fond of 

 roaming with others of his kind, when they look like 

 arrows as they flash from tree to tree and grove to 

 grove with sharp, anxious notes. 



All titmice are fond of company, and in autumn and 

 winter we see their merry parties roaming about the 

 woods, long-tailed, blue, cole, great, and marsh tits, 

 along with golden-crested wrens, and perhaps a few 

 tree-creepers and nuthatches. 



The long-tailed tit pays small attention to human 

 beings, pays small attention, indeed, to anything 

 save the tiny insects, their eggs and grubs, for which he 

 searches the trees. If he should come to a garden, 

 it is only on a passing visit, or perhaps to make a nest. 



In the spring the flocks of all tits break up. Then is 

 heard the long-tailed tit's love-call, a delicate trill. 

 These tits are early nesters, and their wonderful nests, 

 the most wonderful of all our birds' nests, the most 

 wonderful and beautiful of all nests in the world, 

 perhaps, may be found in March, shaped something 

 like a bottle (whence the name " bottle-tit ") domed, 

 mossy, outwardly covered with grey lichen, in some 

 cases, and stuffed with hundreds and even with thou- 

 sands of feathers. The nest is a large one, partly it 

 may be because of the long tail, which the sitting 

 bird in the nest perks up above her, and partly because 

 there may be from ten to fifteen or even sixteen baby 

 bottle-tits within. 



The blue-tit is a study in yellow, white, and blue, 

 always to be known by his white, blue-bordered 

 cheeks and his yellow breast with its dark blue line. 

 This marvellous little acrobat performs the most 

 amusing antics as he swings about, in any position, 

 on our cocoanuts. He will eat almost anything ; and 



