450 PERCHING BIRDS. 



either roam about wherever there are trees, in company with creepers and 

 other small birds, diligently seeking after insects and their eggs in the bark of 

 trees, or else remaining in the neighbourhood of inhabited places, picking up what 

 refuse they can find. They are remarkably fond of picking a bone, and may often 

 be seen near the kitchen door, watching for any stray scraps which may be thrown 

 out. Some friends of ours, who are fond of enticing them to remain about 

 their gardens, feed them during the winter by hanging lumps of suet in a small 

 net on a piece of wire fixed across a high stick, in order that they may be out of 

 reach of the cats ; and I have often been astonished to see how soon a large piece 

 of suet is demolished by these little birds. Often two or three may be seen cling- 

 ing to the same piece, pecking at it vigorously, evidently enjoying the good fare 

 prepared for them. . . . When hunting after insects, etc., in trees, they appear to 

 examine every part most carefully, moving along and round the branches, now 

 clinging head downwards, now moving along the limbs of the tree almost like a 

 creeper, or clinging to the end of a small branch, examining carefully a bud to see 

 if any insect is harboured therein. This is done in a most business-like, quiet 

 manner, and only now and then a low call, 06, is uttered ; but when taking a short 

 flight from tree to tree or bush to bush, they utter their cheerful loud note." The 

 great tit has a variety of notes, some of which are harsh and unmelodious ; its 

 song being inconsiderable but characteristic. Building early in spring, it places its 

 nest in a variety of situations, one having been found in the roots of an elm-tree, 

 quite a foot below the ground. Most nests are, however, placed in holes in 

 trees, sometimes in the deserted nest of a hornet, and some have been found 

 in garden - pumps, flower-pots, and other unlikely situations. Probably one of 

 the most extraordinary nests ever discovered was found in a rough corner-cupboard, 

 fixed at one end of an old shepherd's house, erected in a plantation for the use of 

 the gamekeeper. In the centre of the cupboard was a single shelf, and the door 

 being kept shut, the pair of tits could only obtain access through a small hole in the 

 woodwork above ; but through this opening the large amount of material employed 

 in the construction of the nest must have been introduced. The eggs of the great 

 tit are pure white, blotched with bright red; the bird frequently rearing two 

 broods in the same nesting-hole in the course of the summer. The adult male has 

 the crown of the head and the sides of the neck and throat glossy black, and the 

 sides of the face white ; the back is yellowish green ; the lower part of the back and 

 upper tail-coverts is slaty grey, as are the wings and tail ; while the under-parts are 

 bright yellow, with a black median stripe. 



An inhabitant of the fir-woods of Central and Northern Europe, 

 the coal-tit (P. ater) breeds early in the year, generally in a hole 

 in the wall or chink in some rotten tree-stump ; the nest being lined with fine roots, 

 moss, hair, and feathers. The eggs are white, spotted and blotched with red; 

 and a nest of this species was once found in the burrow of a sand-martin. 

 The British form of the coal-tit is regarded by some ornithologists as distinct from 

 the Continental race, inasmuch as it has the back of an olive-brown, whereas the 

 back of the Continental bird is slaty blue. Nevertheless some specimens of coal- 

 tit obtained in the north of Scotland are intermediate between the British and 

 Continental forms ; while the habits of both appear to be precisely identical. The 



