BLUE TIT. 469 



breast, and with the white on the outside tail-feathers very largely deve- 

 loped. P. cyanus is represented in Turkestan by a very nearly allied bird, 

 P. flavipectus, which only differs from it in being slightly darker on the 

 upper parts and in having the breast lemon-yellow. 



The Blue Tit is one of the most familiar and best-known of our smaller 

 birds. All the Tits are interesting little creatures, and most grotesque in 

 the attitudes they assume ; yet none surpass in these respects the pert little 

 " Bluecap." There is something exceedingly droll about a Blue Tit ; he 

 is such a knowing pert little fellow that he engages the attention at once. 

 He is not shy, and will allow the observer to watch his actions at a few 

 paces. With what patient perseverance he searches for his food, examining 

 every little twig and bud in his way ! how deftly he clings to the extremity 

 of the twigs,* pecking vigorously at the large buds, shelling off their cases 

 in eager search for the grub concealed within ! How merry are his notes 

 of exultation as his search is rewarded, and he pops quickly off to another 

 twig where the same performance may be renewed ! He is a noisy little 

 creature, ever restless, and, when not engaged in picking out the insects 

 from the buds and twigs, continually signalling to his companions in a lively 

 series of call-notes. 



His actions in spring cause the gardener some anxiety for his fruit-trees. 

 In the search for insects many promising buds are injured ; but when we 

 consider the number of grubs destroyed, his good services must be set 

 against the trifling damage. In autumn the habits of the Blue Tit are to 

 a great extent changed. During the breeding-season his notes are rarely 

 heard or only at long intervals ; and at this time of the year he ceases to be 

 gregarious. But when the anxious cares of rearing their brood are over, the 

 birds roam about the fields, woods, and gardens in small parties ; they 

 seem to be in the height of their enjoyment ; and the brood and their parents 

 make the trees resound with their cheerful notes, and the twigs seem full 

 of life as the gay little creatures poise and twist and turn amongst the 

 leaves. Throughout the autumn the birds will keep together, and some- 

 times join parties of Coal Tits or even a stray Creeper. In winter the 

 Blue Tit is often to be seen in places which at other times of the year he 

 appears to shun for example the corn-stacks, to the sides of which he will 

 cling in company with Sparrows or the open fields, where he may often 

 be seen picking the bones thrown on the laud with the manure. At this 

 season he may sometimes be seen searching walls for insects by clinging to 

 them, and often picking out bits of plaster to get at his prey ; or he will 

 not unfrequently visit the heaps of old wood in the farmyard in search of 

 any thing gdible. 



In their wanderings the Blue Tits visit almost every variety of scene, 

 except, of course, the most barren and treeless wastes. The orchard trees 

 are searched just as closely as the tall elms, oaks, and beeches in the depths 



