TITMICE 



129 



Great 

 Titmouse. 



Passing on to the group of titmice, we find that the greater 

 number of European species belong to the genus Parvus, most of 

 whose representatives are indigenous to the temperate and northern latitudes of 



Europe, Asia, and North 

 America, although a 

 few inhabit Africa and 

 India. The great tit- 

 mouse (P. major) is by 

 no means particular in 

 choosing its residence; 

 taking up its abode 

 in forests, plantations, 



parks, or gardens, or, in 

 fact, wherever trees and 

 bushes grow. Gener- 

 ally keeping to the trees 

 and bushes, it is only 

 in the winter that it 

 looks for its food on 

 great titmouse. the ground. Insects, 



seeds, and all sorts of 



fruit constitute its ordinary diet, but in the winter it will eat scraps of meat or 



fat, preferring those hung in a tree. In October the great tit migrates in large 



llocks to the south-west; the females and young birds going first, and the males 



vol. 1. — Q 



