112 WILD BIRDS 



MARSH TITMICE 



If the redstart excels in beauty, the marsh tit- 

 mouse excels in vivacity ; surely in this no titmouse 

 can outshine the marsh titmouse, and few English 

 birds can equal him. He is always brisk and confi- 

 dent and nimble ; and though on the alert if one 

 intrudes too near him far alerter than the gold- 

 crowned wren, the redpoll, or the long-tailed tit- 

 mouse he will allow one to sit or approach very 

 near his haunt. 



Marsh titmice are far from rare. The cole tit- 

 mouse is more abundant than he is in most parts 

 of England, but it is wrong to think the marsh 

 titmouse is scarce or local. In wooded places he is 

 a familiar bird to those who know him well and 

 can recognise his notes. What a variety of notes 

 the marsh titmouse has ! Put together, they would 

 form quite a song, though taken separately no note 

 or phrase of the bird is so songlike and musical as 

 the bell notes of the great titmouse in early spring.* 



Woods, lanes, field hedgerows, willowy riversides, 

 and commons alike suit the marsh titmouse ; and 

 often he visits the gardens, too, though I have not 

 known him nest there, like the cole titmouse and 

 the blue and the great. Beech mast and sunflower 

 seeds are sure to draw the marsh titmouse, but there 

 are many other courses on his menu ; small berries 



* This year (1913) I heard the whetstone though not the 

 sweet bell notes of the great titmouse just outside my 



Sussex cottage between dark and dawn on January 5th. 



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