THE COAL-TIT. 153 



The eggs are somewhat elongated ovals, sometimes with the two ends alike, 

 chalky-white when blown, though semi-transparent and appearing delicate rose-pink 

 when fresh from the nest ; the surface is more or less sprinkled with pale-red dots, 

 which occasionally are collected into a mass at the larger end ; but, as a rule the 

 eggs of the Coal-Tit are not heavily marked. 



The young, as with the other Tits, are principally fed upon small caterpillars 

 and spiders ; of which vast quantities are destroyed during the rearing of a family. 

 Little does the fruit-grower imagine, when he slaughters this amiable little bird, 

 what a vast debt of gratitude he owes it, for the countless destructive caterpillars 

 which it has cleared off his trees and bushes. When adult, insects, their larvae, 

 spiders, beech nuts,* seeds and buds : they are also very fond of mutton suet, or 

 the scraps of meat adhering to a well-cleaned beef-bone. 



What is the love-song of the Coal-Tit ? According to some writers it is a 

 repetition of the call-note ; but, whilst lying awake in the early morning, I have 

 heard a Tit sing in the oak-tree in front of my house, which certainly was neither 

 a Great- Tit, nor a Blue-Tit ; and its song was tee, tsoo-tsoo, terry, as nearly 

 as I could make out at the time : I believe this to be the Coal-Tit's love-song, but 

 am not sure. The songs of birds, which are now being studied critically by Mr. 

 Charles A. Witchell, have, until recently, not received half the attention which 

 they deserve. 



The call of the young for food certainly bears no relation whatever to the 

 ordinary call-note or to the above song ; in June, 1888, I heard of a nest of young 

 Tits in a cemetery in Kent, and visited it with Mr. Frohawk ; we caught the 

 mother bird on the nest and then took out nine young birds and a clear egg. I 

 enclosed the entire family in a cage with the mother and gave her some wasp-larvae 

 to feed them with ; but, although Tits are very industrious and painstaking in 

 feeding their young when they have their liberty, I soon saw that it was hopeless 

 to expect anything of the kind in a cage ; the mother-bird simply devoured all the 

 maggots herself and trampled her babies underfoot in her frantic efforts to escape : 

 I therefore opened the cage-door at an open window and away she flew without 

 another thought as to the fate of her family. 



For a week, during which time I was able to attend to my Coal-Tits person- 

 ally, they throve splendidly ; but unhappily I had to return to work and leave 

 them in the care of a young girl who, in those days, used to come in daily and 

 attend to my birds ; the consequence was that these charming little things were 

 neglected, being allowed to get dirty ; so that gradually they dropped off, one or 



* I saw the Coal-Tit bus}- upon these at St. Mary Cray, some five or six years ago, when I was out for a 

 country ramble in that direction. 



