THE OXEYE, OR GREATER TIT. 275 



Habitation Tn its wild state it is found throughout the old world, but 



in the greatest numbers in mountainous countries, where orchards and 

 groves abound, and woods of beech, oak, and similar trees, are found alter- 

 nately with those of fir. Though these birds do not migrate, yet in autumn 

 they assemble and pass the winter together, seeking their food amongst 

 orchards and woods. In autumn, as soon as the bird-catchers see these 

 flights of tits succeed each other quickly, they call it their passage, and im- 

 mediately prepare snares for taking them. In March eacli pair separates 

 and prepares for breeding. 



In the house, if kept in a cage, this should be of iron wire, and bell- 

 shaped, for the advantage of seeing the birds twirl about, and drop from one 

 stick to another like monkeys. If they be allowed to range, it is necessary 

 to supply them with abundance of the food they like, for if this fails they 

 vnll attack the other birds, and pierce their heads to eat the brain ; when 

 once they have tasted this food there is no longer safety for the birds around 

 them, whatever their size may be. I have seen an oxeye attack a quail 

 and kill it in this way. Some bird-catchers say that the tits with forked 

 tails are alone addicted to this, but they are mistaken ; it is certainly true 

 that some are more cruel than others, experience teaches us this every day. 



Food. — When wild they feed on insects, seeds, and berries, destroy many 

 smooth caterpillars, flies, grasshoppers, gnats, and small butterflies, and 

 climb about the trees like woodpeckers, seeking in the moss the eggs and 

 grubs of insects. In autumn and winter they cat all kinds of seeds, 

 especially hemp-seed, fir, and pine-seed, oats, kernels of fruit, mast nuts, 

 and occasionally flesh. They hold these things in their claws, tear them 

 with their beak, and skin them with their tongue. 



In the house they will eat any thing on the table, meat, bread, cheese, 

 vegetables, sweet almonds, walnuts, filberts, lard, and all sorts of fat, all 

 pastes adapted for other birds; so that we must not attribute their early 

 death to the delicacy of the tits, but to the want of care in those that have 

 them. The more they eat the more they sing, and the less inclined they 

 are to attack their companions. They drink often, and enjoy bathing. 



Breeding. — The oxeye builds in a hole of a tree or wall, sometimes in 

 the forsaken nest of a squirrel, crow, or woodpecker. It lays on an artless 

 bed of moss, wool, and feathers, eight or ten whitish eggs, sprinkled with 

 large and small spots mixed with streaks of dark red, particularly at the 

 large end, where they form a coronet. The young do not quit the nest till 

 they can fly well. The under parts of the body are pale yellow ; and the 

 black about them is not glossy as in the old birds. 



Diseases, — In a cage, this species is subject to vertigo or giddiness, 

 occasioned by feeding too much on hemp-seed, which heats it and makes it 

 twirl about too mueh. To cure the disorder, the bird should be kept for 

 soijie time in a small square cage, or permitted to range the room. Prom 

 the same cause often arises atrophy, consumption, and even gout, all t^^hich 

 proves the injurious qualities of hemp-seed ; but with care on this point 

 and a little attention it may live eight or ten years. 



Mode of Taking. — The chase after tits, is, according to bird-catchers, 

 one of the most agreeable, and is pursued in many ways ; bat I shall con- 

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