192 THE TITS 



engaged hunting for insects or larvae ; either on the ground where 

 he restlessly turns over dead leaves for a chance morsel, or else high 

 up performing all sorts of gymnastic feats as he picks seeds from the 

 larch-cones, in company with the more retiring marsh-tit. When 

 searching for food on the trunks of trees the coal-tit hops upwards in 

 a manner suggestive of the tree-creeper, and, like the latter bird, 

 he spreads out his tail as a kind of prop whilst climbing, though his 

 ascent is not so vertical, but rather takes the form of a spiral. 



The marsh-tit is not, as his name suggests, confined to marshy 

 districts, but seems equally fond of the outskirts of woods and 

 gardens. All the Tits may frequently be seen searching for food upon 

 the ground, especially in beech-woods if the season has been a good 

 one for beech-mast. To the casual observer there may be no sign of 

 life beneath the trees nothing but a heap of russet leaves, but if 

 he will turn his glasses upon this spot, the result will be surprising. 

 Chaffinches, and perhaps a brambling or two, may be seen consorting 

 with Tits in pursuit of food. As regards the latter birds nothing 

 seems to come amiss to them. The very fact that they are so catholic 

 in their diet accounts for their presence with us all the year through. 

 Even the marsh-tit's slender bill is an instrument of no ordinary 

 efficiency. I have seen one of these birds nip off a beech-pod that 

 had not begun to split, and then, grasping it firmly with both feet, deal 

 blows with his bill upon the hard husk worthy of his stronger cousin, 

 the great-tit. There seemed no particular object in all this dis- 

 play of energy, because hundreds of good beech-nuts strewed the 

 ground waiting to be eaten ! When nuts fail, the Tits will later in the 

 year tear to shreds the carpet of moss or lichen which is spread over 

 banks and roots of trees ; and in this eager search after insects, the 

 moss and lichen is scattered in all directions. 



During the autumn of 1910, a solitary marsh-tit came to my 

 garden every afternoon for the ripe red berries of the common honey- 

 suckle. He would nip off one, fly to a plum-tree and there devour 

 this dainty at leisure, then return for another ; but rarely ate more 



