1 84 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



away as if their lives depended on the rapidity of 

 their labours. Now and again a great tit will 

 make his appearance, and drive off all other 

 intruders. I find it the better plan to hang out 

 three or four such inducements, in order that all 

 comers may participate. Poor little birds ! they 

 are often sore pressed for food in hard weather, 

 and must find it a difficult matter to exist at 

 times, though they contrive to endure the cold 

 and scarcity of food better than many other 

 birds. 



It may be as well to here remark, for the benefit 

 of the reader, that whereas the long-tailed tit 

 makes its nest in the centre of a thicket or some 

 thorny bush, the blue tit lays its eggs in almost 

 any place where there is a hole suitable for the 

 purpose. It is especially fond of utilizing the 

 holes in walls and buildings. Last summer (1894) 

 I saw some five or six of these birds, which had 

 taken up their quarters in as many holes in an old 

 garden wall, and all within a few feet of each 

 other, in a row. 



The coal tit prefers to build in some decayed 

 stump or hole of a tree, the marsh tit selecting, 

 when practicable, a hollow willow, or some similar 

 tree in the vicinity of water, and where the 

 ground is wet and low-lying. 



All the several varieties of British tits are 

 resident. 



The bearded tit, or bearded reedling, is very 

 easily distinguished from the ordinary tits, not 



