94 BRITISH BIEDS 



not been very well established. In a captive condition he will 

 occasionally attack a small bird in the same cage, killing it by 

 vigorous blows on the head, and picking out its brains ; but in a 

 state of nature the great tit would probably be able to kill only ;i 

 young or sick bird. For so small a bird he is, undoubtedly, very 

 resolute and strong; the rapid blows of his short, strong bill on the 

 bark sound like those of a nuthatch. Like that bird, he splits open 

 the hard shells of seeds to get at the kernels. 



The great tit is less social and gregarious than the other species 

 of this group ; still, he does unite in small parties, and joins the bands 

 of mixed titmice and other small birds that form so familial 1 and 

 interesting a feature of woods and copses in autumn and winter. 



The nest is placed in a variety of situations, but a covered site 

 is usually preferred to an open one, and nests maybe found in 

 holes and cavities in decayed timber, holes in walls, and in old 

 nests of magpies, crows, and rooks. In a well-covered site the nest 

 is loosely built ; if in an open one, such as a crow's nest, the struc- 

 ture is much more elaborate, dry grass, moss, hair, and wool, being 

 closely woven together, and the inside thickly lined with feathers. 



The eggs vary from five to eleven in number ; usually they are 

 seven or eight. They are pure white or faintly tinged with yellow, 

 blotched and spotted with reddish brown. Two broods are reared 

 in the season. The parent birds are very bold in defence of their 

 eggs and young, and vigorously attack any bird that approaches 

 the nest, without regard to its size. The sitting-bird sometimes 

 refuses to leave her eggs, and when taken in the hand will bite 

 and hiss like the wryneck. 



In autumn and winter the number of great tits is considerably 

 increased by a migration from the Continent. 



Coal-Titmouse. 

 Parus ater ; Parus britannicus. 



Crown, throat, and front of the neck black ; cheeks and nape 

 pure white ; upper parts grey ; wings bluish grey, with two white 

 bands ; under parts white tinged with grey. Length, four and a 

 quarter inches. 



The coal-tit of our country (P. britannicus} differs sliglitly from 

 the continental form (P. ater), the British bird having the slate- 



