generally rapidly repeated, and resemble sometimes the syllables ' dzoo-zee, 

 dzoo-zeej and sometimes ' zeeka-zeeka, zee-zee] followed now and then by a 

 churring note. 



In the beginning of April Blue Tits may often be observed squeezing 

 themselves into all sorts of holes and crannies in walls or trees, looking 

 for a nesting-site ; but the actual work of nest-building is seldom commenced 

 before the beginning of May. The sites chosen are very varied, but a hole 

 is indispensable ; sometimes the hole chosen is in a tree, sometimes in a wall 

 or roof of an outhouse, and there are numberless instances of sites such as 

 pumps, tool-bags or post-boxes being chosen. The nest is a very loosely built 

 structure, consisting of a mass of moss and dry grass, lined with an immense 

 quantity of wool, hair, and feathers. 



The eggs laid vary in number from five to nine, but nests are often found 

 which contain as many as twelve eggs. I once found sixteen eggs in one nest, 

 but they were very much mixed up in the lining, and four were addled, so I 

 concluded that the latter had remained in the nest since the previous season. 

 The eggs, like those of all the Tits, are white in ground-colour, rather faintly 

 speckled with light red, sometimes evenly all over, and sometimes with a zone 

 of spots round one end. They vary in length from 7 to -52 inch, and in 

 breadth from '5 to '42 inch. 



The little bird defends her home most bravely, erecting her crest, hissing 

 violently, and pecking furiously at the hand of the ornithologist who is rash 

 enough to put it into the hole. One curious site I cannot help mentioning 

 came under my notice a year or two ago : two flower-pots, one within the other, 

 were standing on a window-sill, when a Blue Tit took possession of them, 

 building its nest in the space between the bottoms of the pots, obtaining access 

 by the hole cut for drainage. 



68 



