THE BLUE TITMOUSE 



PARUS CJERULEUS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : " Pick-cheese," 

 " Bluecap " (Essex). 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed resident in all wooded districts, its numbers 

 increased in autumn by migratory individuals. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : This is the commonest and by far the best 

 known of the Tits throughout the Metropolitan area. It 

 may be met with from time to time almost anywhere, 

 provided there are a few trees to afford it shelter. So 

 grimy does the little bird become in exploring the soot- 

 covered trees that one is often puzzled for a moment to 

 recognise it, its delicate contrasts of blue and yellow being 

 concealed by the dirt of the great city. It probably 

 breeds from St. James's Park outwards to the limits of 

 our radius, including almost every urban park in the 

 Metropolis. In winter there are few private grounds or 

 houses with trees about them that the Blue Titmouse does 

 not visit, and its cheery notes may often be heard from 

 the trees that fringe suburban roads, or even the Thames 

 embankments. It is possible that some of these little 

 wanderers may be migrants, for the species is particularly 

 in evidence in autumn, when the countryside is swarming 

 with family parties not only from our own woodlands, 

 but from across the seas, whither they come in company 

 with Goldcrests and the following species. 



Next to the Sparrow and the Starling the Blue Titmouse 

 is one of the most familiar of London's birds. Although 

 it seems to go into an eclipse, as it were, during the 

 breeding season, keeping silent and seclusive, during the 

 remainder of the year it is in more or less constant evi- 

 dence. Never is it more so than in autumn, when crowds 



