TI T. 



805 



footless grubs, which, as soon as born, attack the roots 

 of grass or other plants in the situation where they 

 are produced, and in a short time the plant droops 

 and withers for lack of nourishment. When, as is 

 occasionally the case, these larvae are numerous, it 

 may be well conceived that they are capable of doing 

 much mischief. 



Reaumur is indeed of opinion that the only food 

 of the Iarva3 is the rich black mould in which they 

 are found ; but from the details given by other writers, 

 it is evident that they feed upon the roots of plants, 

 corns, and grass ; and Kirby and Spence state that 

 on turning up a square foot of dead turf two hundred 

 and ten grubs were found beneath it. 



There are nearly fifty British species of this genus. 

 The most obnoxious being t Tipula oleracea and 

 T, cornicina, the first of which may be considered as 

 the type of the genus. It is extremely abundant. 



TIT, or TITMOUSE (Pants). A genus, or perhaps 

 more correctly a little group, of conirostral birds, of 

 the great passerine order in Cuvier's system. The 

 characters of the genus are : the bill slender, short, 

 conical, straight, of great strength and power for its 

 size, covered with a few short hairs at the base, and 

 with the nostrils nearly hidden under the leathers ; 

 the feet very stout, with three toes to the front and 

 one to the rear, the latter with the claw peculiarly 

 strong and crooked, and all the toes quite free to their 

 bases ; the first quill of the wing is of mean length, 

 or so very short as to be little else than rudimental, 

 the second considerably shorter than the third, which 

 is the largest in the wing. These are little birds, 

 but they are birds of the most energetic disposition, 

 and the most active habits ; they are brisk, coura- 

 geous, crafty, hardy, very pugnacious, and even 

 ferocious ; but these qualities are compensated by 

 the smartness of their appearance, and the services 

 they render to cultivators, more especially the culti- 

 vators of fruit trees. Notwithstanding their pugna- 

 cious dispositions, they are in so far social birds that 

 they are generally seen in small parties. They are 

 capable of enduring all climates, and of braving every 

 state of the weather ; and their muscular power, both 

 in the way of action and of endurance, is greater than 

 that of any other little birds, being well adapted to 

 their bold and daring spirit. 



We might naturally conclude that all this energy 

 and power are not given them without an adequate 

 purpose ; and accordingly the office which they spe- 

 cially perform in nature, is one where the greatest 

 energy and strength, combined with lightness of 

 body, are required. Their chief office is to find and 

 pick out from their hiding places in the bark, and 

 especially the buds of trees, those insects and larvae 

 which no other birds can discover, or at all events 

 capture. The lightness of their bodies, the rapidity 

 of their motions, the astonishingly firm clutch which 

 they can take with their feet, their keen and almost 

 microscopic vision, and the readiness, smallness, and 

 firmness of their bills, fit them admirably for the 

 office. To see one of them reconnoitring a tree is 

 quite a treat ; it gets from bud to bud, one hardly 

 knows how, for though we must suppose, from the 

 analogy, that it can be done only on the wing, yet it 

 is so momentary in the whole performance that the 

 wings are not seen to move. The bird is clinging to 

 one twig this instant, and in another instant it is 

 clinging to another, but how the transition is made 

 there is no time for observing ; thus, the way in which 



it may come to the branch is a matter of no conse- 

 quence, in so far as the sure footing of the bird is 

 concerned. Upwards, downwards, latterly, outwards, 

 or inwards, all are the same to the tit, for it never 

 misses its clutch, and the position in which it may 

 hang to the twig, or whether it hangs by one foot or 

 by both, seems to be a matter of perfect indifference. 

 Wherever the feet touches it is sure to gain a firm 

 hold, and the instant that the foot is detached the 

 wings are ready to receive the bird, whether the 

 detaching be the result of intention or of accident. 

 Thus they are enabled to clear of their insect de- 

 stroyers those tips of the slender sprays which no 

 other birds can command, and where yet the depre- 

 dations of the insect are the most destructive ; as per- 

 petrated there, they stop the leading shoots, and 

 destroy the symmetry of the tree. The services 

 which these birds render in this way are very great, 

 but they are performed with so much celerity that 

 they do not appear in their full amount to our com- 

 paratively close and dull observation.. Our incapaciiy 

 of fully observing and appreciating them does not, 

 however, in the least detract from the real value of 

 the birds. 



In their resources in the way of provisions, these 

 birds are as remarkable as in the rest of their eco- 

 nomy ; though, when these are to be had, they prefer 

 insects and their larvre to every other kind of food, 

 yet when the annual supply of these is over and it 

 is sooner over with them, as their business is chiefly 

 with buds, and ceases when the shoots have acquired 

 a certain degree of length they have recourse to 

 the farinaceous and oily seeds of vegetables, and they 

 do not scruple to eat carrion if it comes in their way. 

 They also stand accused of visiting the nests of other 

 birds in the absence of the parents, and punching 

 open the heads of the young and eating the contents. 

 They are said to do the same to any sickly bird that 

 may come in their way ; but perhaps their doings in 

 this respect may be a good deal exaggerated. 



In the construction of their own nests they display 

 a great deal of labour, and often not a little of inge- 

 nuity. The different species, and especially some of 

 the sections into which the genus has been parted, 

 differ much in this respect. Some build about the 

 most elaborate structures that are to be met with 

 among birds, an instance of which will be found de- 

 scribed at length by referring to the article BOTTLE- 

 TIT, in the first volume of this work. Others form 

 pendent nests at the end of the slender twigs which 

 hang over streams and ponds ; and many build in 

 the holes of old trees ; but wherever the nest is 

 placed, it is always concealed or secured with great 

 care, and rendered peculiarly warm and comfortable 

 for the young ; and all of them have more numerous 

 broods than almost any other birds of the order. 

 Thus we find that their powers of reproduction, as 

 well as those of endurance, are suited to the very 

 laborious office which they have to perform in the 

 economy of nature. 



Cuvier divides them into three sections or sub- 

 genera : first, the pari, or tits properly so called ; 

 secondly, those which have been called bearded-tits, 

 from the mustachios which are at the angle of the 

 gape ; and thirdly, those which have been called 

 pendulous tits, from the fact of their suspending their 

 nests from the ends of twigs. Some further divi- 

 sions have been made by others, but they are of too 

 minute a character for popular notice. See the 



