THE GREAT TITMOUSE 



PARUS MAJOR 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : " Saw-sharpener," 

 " Post-builder " (Essex). 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A widely distributed 

 and common resident in all wooded districts ; numbers 

 increased in autumn by migrants. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : Although nowhere so common as the Blue 

 Titmouse, the present species is pretty generally distri- 

 buted over the Metropolitan area, and as a transient 

 visitor may be met with in the central portion. It is 

 a frequent visitor to St. James's Park, the grounds of 

 Buckingham Palace and Marlborough House, Hyde Park, 

 and Kensington Gardens, to my knowledge breeding in 

 the two latter. Thence it may be traced as a visitor 

 (and possibly nesting) to the grounds of Holland House, 

 north to Regent's Park, east to Victoria Park. On the 

 " Surrey side " I can record it from Peckham Rye, 

 Herne Hill, Battersea Park, and Clapham Common. 

 Beyond these limits its distribution becomes so general 

 that a detailed list of localities is scarcely necessary. As 

 the suburbs become more rural and vegetation more 

 abundant it becomes commoner as a nesting species, 

 sometimes rearing its young year by year in situations 

 close to public highways. The bird is not so gregarious 

 as the smaller species of Tits, and very often an odd 

 individual attaches itself to a party of them. It moves 

 about a good deal in pairs, and is warier than many of 

 its congeners. 



There can be little doubt that many of the Great Tits 

 seen within the London area, especially during autumn 

 and winter, are migrants from Continental Europe, or 

 perhaps from more northern localities in our own island. 

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