TITS, OR TITMICE. 7 



the colour of his head; Nun, because, we suppose, he wears a hood 

 or cowl as monks and nuns do; Blue Mope, why? it would perhaps 

 be difficult to say: the bird is not at all mopish, but as lively as a 

 bird need be; but then monastic people are supposed to be so, and 

 this is but a repetition of the monkisk or nunnish title. Then he is 

 the Billy-biter, because he bites the fingers of Billy, or Bobby, or 

 any other foolish boy who goes prying into his nest; and he is also 

 the Hickwall, for does he not pick, and peck, and hick, and hack at 

 the crumbling mortar of the old wall, where spiders lurk, and other 

 insects, for he is a student of entomology. Lastly, people call him 

 the Tomtit, for although not the biggest, he is the commonest, the 

 best dressed, the liveliest, and the most popular of the family. Our 

 readers may take their choice of these names, and call him by that 

 they like best. He is a very beautiful, clever, and amusing little 

 bird, under whatever title he may appear. 



Not quite "all the Blue-bonnets are over the Border," for they are 

 found yet in most parts of England, but a good many of them are, 

 being absent only in the extreme north. In Ireland, too, they are 

 not uncommon, and nearly all over Europe their shrill notes may at 

 times be heard; they extend as far north as Norway, Sweden, and 

 the south of Russia; among the islands of Greece they flit and flutter 

 in the sunshine, on the foggy flats of Holland they are not unknown, 

 and the Switzer sees them in his green valleys, that lie beneath and 

 between the great mountains capped with snow. In those bright 

 islands from whence it is said the Canary Birds first came, Master 

 Tommy disports himself, and even in Japan his presence is reported, 

 so that our Blue Tit is quite a citizen of the world. In our own 

 country he is somewhat migratory, moving southward as the cold 

 weather comes on. During the summer he keeps pretty much within 

 the shelter of the green wood, but towards autumn, when his 

 family cares are over, he may be seen in every hedgerow, and es- 

 pecially in and about the gardens. In the spring these birds are 

 mostly seen in pairs, in the summer in families, and in the winter 

 in small flocks. Their flight from place to place is laboured and 

 unsteady, accomplished by repeated flappings of the wings. Their 

 note is short and sharp, broken up into little bits as it were, like 

 the words zit, zit, tzitzee; tsee, tsee, tsirr, or chica, chica, chirr-r-r. If dis- 

 turbed on her nest, the hen bird spits like a cat, and ruffles up her 

 feathers, looking very fierce indeed. Many a boy has been scared 

 away by the hissing sound she makes, thinking he has aroused the 

 anger of a snake. If she cannot drive away the intruder by such 

 devices, she will boldly attack him, and bite severe!/. Hardly anything 



