182 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



Wiltshire, but it has never been my fortune to 

 view a living specimen. 



The first five varieties I have enumerated are 

 more or less common throughout the country. 

 The long-tailed, or bottle tit as it is sometimes 

 called, has the smallest body and the longest tail 

 of all the family. Unlike the other tits, it is 

 rarely to be seen in the neighbourhood of houses, 

 though it frequents the gardens and orchards, 

 and drives the gardeners well-nigh frantic when 

 the green peas are forming in the pods. It is 

 a rough, woolly-looking little bird, with a white 

 head, the rest of its plumage being a mixture of 

 blue and fluffy - looking yellow feathers. The 

 colour of the tail feathers is of the most beauti- 

 ful blue tint, an almost indescribable shade. 

 These are the only feathers which are suitable 

 for the wings of the artificial trout-fly known to 

 fishermen as the * iron blue,' and they are exceed- 

 ingly difficult to manipulate by reason of the 

 extreme delicacy of their fibres. The nest is a 

 marvel of beauty and neatness, and too well 

 known to need description. It is generally 

 situated in the deepest recesses of some dense, 

 thorny bush, and so, fortunately, not easily pro- 

 curable. 



Whereas the long-tailed tit is the smallest of 

 the tit family, the great tit is considerably the 

 largest a strong, powerful and pugnacious little 

 bird, easily distinguishable by the black stripe 

 down the centre of its breast and belly, and with 



