210 THE TITS 



crested-tit is then found in small groves of pine or fir-trees standing 

 in the open country, and miles away from forests ; it is also found in 

 large gardens. They hurry uneasily through the deciduous woods and 

 fruit gardens, which lie between the pine-woods they visit in their 

 wanderings, and are only at ease when in the latter. They also hasten 

 with greater speed over fields or any treeless tracts they have to pass. 

 Often a little flock settles in a small isolated pine-wood, remaining 

 there throughout the winter and wandering through it day after day 

 till the spring, when they return to the larger woods to breed. During 

 these migrations it is said to be the leader of the flocks of tits with 

 which it consorts, also that they obey its call-note, and that it keeps 

 watch and gives the first alarm if any enemy approaches." J 



Here we find a slight difference between the behaviour of the 

 continental crested-tit and our own native bird ; for in Strathspey 

 during autumn and winter "a few pairs may usually be found, 

 consorting with other members of the genus, but they seldom seem to 

 wander beyond the confines of their native strath." 2 Crested-tits have 

 been met with as occasional wanderers in England, and their various 

 occurrences thoroughly gone into and sifted by Mr. J. H. Gurney, who 

 sums up his somewhat exhaustive paper as follows : " It will be seen 

 that we have here a list of about twenty-two crested-tits seen or killed, 

 of which three rest on bird-stuffers' authority, and fifteen on the 

 evidence of amateurs. Twelve of these were on the East Coast, the 

 county of Yorkshire being especially favoured with no less than seven. 

 These may, most likely, have been of Norwegian origin ; it is fair to 

 assume this, and that they had crossed the sea with some of the great 

 bands of goldcrests, or more likely with smaller parties of the great- 

 tit, which, as is well known, visits England in that way. ... Or they 

 may have come from Holland, for Mr. Seebohm tells us that the 

 crested-tit is very abundant in Valkenswaard, which is not two 

 hundred miles from Suffolk." 3 



1 Dresser and Sharpe, Birds of Europe, vol. iii. s Fauna of Moray, p. 250. 



' Zoologist, 1890, pp. 210-213. 



