spring it has a loud call which may be represented by the syllables ' tee- 

 tay, tee-tay! and sometimes a low plaintive ' weee, weee ' is uttered. Its 

 song is a very poor one, consisting only of a few sibilant notes, ' sts-sts- 

 sts-sis, seee,' which it utters at intervals as it flits about from twig to twig. 

 Like most of the Tits, it is a very sociable bird, and in winter, when food 

 is scarce, it joins company with Blue Tits, Coal Tits, and Goldcrests, forming 

 quite a flock, which searches the woods for supplies of food. 



The Marsh Tit is not a very early breeder, as nest-building does not 

 commence before the end of April, the eggs being seldom laid before the 

 beginning of May. The nest is usually built in a hole in some tree or 

 decaying fence-post, and is rarely at any great height from the ground. The 

 entrance-hole is usually very small, and as a rule it is very difficult to obtain 

 the eggs without cutting out the nest. Sometimes the nest is placed in 

 some hole in the ground at the base of a tree, and I have seen it in a 

 wall, and in the iron straining-post of a wire fence. If the nesting-chamber 

 be large, the bottom of it is fitted up with a collection of small bits of wood, 

 twigs, etc., and the nest, which is fairly neatly constructed, is built of moss 

 and lined with a profusion of wool, hair, and fur ; only once have I seen a 

 lining of fine soft grass. This nest was built in the cleft of a large oak-tree 

 which had been split by some winter gale ; the entrance to the nest was a 

 long crack only half an inch wide at the largest part. 



The eggs laid vary in number from six to nine ; occasionally larger 

 clutches are said to be found. They are creamy white in ground-colour, 

 spotted and freckled with pale red. The markings are usually most abundant 

 on the larger end of the egg, though on some specimens they are very small, 

 and evenly distributed over the entire surface of the shell. The markings 

 vary in size in different clutches, some being large and pale in colour, while 

 others are small and dark ; on some specimens a few short streaks of very 

 dark brown are seen. They vary in length from '65 to '6 inch, and in 

 breadth from -50 to -45 inch. It is quite impossible to distinguish them from 

 those of the Blue and Coal Tits, and they must be thoroughly identified by 

 watching the birds to the nest. Two broods are occasionally reared in the 

 year, the young of the first brood collecting into a little party and leading 

 a wandering life till the autumn, when they join some flock of their species 

 for the winter. 



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