122 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



a nesting hole for itself in the standing stumps 

 of wind-snapped pine trees. This may be the 

 case in large forests consisting only of one kind 

 of timber; but I do not think it can often be 

 done in forests of mixed trees, for during my re- 

 searches I came across scores and scores of eligible 

 sites in hollow trunks and branches. 



The nesting materials and eggs do not differ 

 very widely from those of some of the other 

 members of the Tit family, but the appearance 

 of the parent birds is a very effective safeguard 

 against any mistake in identification. 



TIT, MARSH. 



WEKE it not a well - established fact that the 

 relative positions of different species of birds in 

 regard to numbers are constantly undergoing a 

 change from one cause or another, it would be 

 difficult to believe that the Marsh Tit was, as 

 recently as Colonel Montagu's time, commoner 

 than its relative the Cole Tit in this country. 



It is, like all the other members of its family, 

 a very busy, bustling bird, flying quickly from 

 tree to tree, examining crack and crevice in quest 

 of insects, which its keen eyes seldom fail to 

 detect. 



It makes its nest in holes in trees, walls, gate- 

 posts, and banks, it is said ; but all those I 

 have found have been in the first-named kind of 

 situation, and generally near the ground. The 

 structure is composed of moss, bits of fine dead 

 grass, wool, rabbits' down, and feathers, felted 

 together and used in varying quantities, according 



