364 THE BLUE TITMOUSE. 



It does not migrate, finding a sufficiency of winter food in its native 

 laud. During the summer it generally haunts the forests, gardens, or 

 shrubberies, and may be seen hopping and running about the branches 

 of tlie trees in a most adroit manner, searching for insects, and occa- 

 sionally knocking them out of their hiding-places by sharp blows of 

 the bill. The beak of the Great Titmouse is, although so small, a very 

 formidable one, for the creature has often been known to set upon the 

 smaller birds and kill them by repeated blows on the head, afterward 

 pulling the skull to pieces and picking out the brains. During the 

 winter the Great Titmouse draws near to human habitations, and by 

 foraging among the barns and outhouses seldom fails in discovering an 

 ample supply of food. 



The nest is always made in some convenient hollow, generally that 

 of a tree, but often in the holes of old walls and in the cavities that are 

 formed by thick gnarled roots in the sides of a bank. Hollow trees, 

 however, are the favorite nesting-places of this bird, which is able to 

 shape the hollow to its liking by chiselling away th3 decaying wood with 

 its sharp, strong beak. The materials of which the nest is made vary 

 according to the locality. There are generally from eight to twelve 

 eggs in each nest, and their color is whitish gray, covered with mottlings 

 of a rusty red, which are thickly gathered toward the larger end. 



The coloring of this species is very bold, and is briefly as follows: 

 The top of the head and the throat, as far as the middle of the neck, 

 together with a rather broad streak down the centre of the chest and 

 abdomen, are rich purple-black, relieved by a spot of pure white on the 

 nape of the neck, and a large flask-shaped patch under each eye. The 

 back and shoulders are ashy green ; the greater wing-coverts are blue- 

 black, each feather being tipped with white, so as to form a bar across 

 the wings. The quill feathers are dark green-gray, the primaries being 

 edged with grayish white. The tail-feathers are the same green-gray, 

 except that the extreme feathers are white on their outer ends. The 

 under parts are light sulphurous yellow, and the under tail-coverts are 

 white. The total length of the bird is not quite six inches. 



The little Blue Titmouse is one of the most familiar birds of Eng- 

 land, as it is widelv spread throughout the land, and is of so bold a 

 nature that it exhibits itself fearlessly to any observer. In many of 

 its habits it resembles the last-mentioned species, but it nevertheless 

 possesses a very marked character, and has peculiarities which are all 

 its own. As it trips glancingly over the branches it hardly looks like 

 a bird, for its quick limbs and strong claws carry it over the twigs with 

 such rapidity that it resembles a blue mouse rather than one of the feath- 

 ered tribe. ^ Being almost exclusively an insect-eating bird, and a most 

 voracious little creature, it renders invaluable service to the agricultur- 

 ist and the gardener by discovering and destroying the insects which 



