TITS. PIPITS, AND LARKS 



III 



GREAT TITS. 



ITS YOUNG. 



and it is at this 

 season of the 

 year when they 

 are most hkely 

 to attract the 

 attention of the 

 roadside n a t u- 

 rahst, for when 

 summer fohage 



clothes the trees and bushes such minute birds 

 may easily escape notice. Moreover, fewer re- 

 main to breed with us than winter here. 



The Tits too, as their name suggests, are a 

 family of very small birds, remarkable for their 

 activity and energy, being constantly on the 

 move, flitting and chmbing about in search of 

 food, their curious attitudes and acrobatic 

 performances being delightful to watch. The 

 Great Tit is, as its adjective implies, the largest 

 of the five commoner representatives of the 

 family — a bold, handsome bird with white 

 cheeks and yellow waistcoat divided down the 

 middle by a jet black stripe. The Blue Tit is 

 conspicuously named, and cannot at any age 

 or season be confounded with either of its con- 

 geners. Both these birds are easily attracted to 

 " bird tables " in winter, and delight in a sus- 

 pended cocoa-nut or piece of suet. The less 

 widely distributed, or at any rate less common 

 and confiding Marsh and Coal Tits, may be 



distinguished from one another by remem- 

 bering that the former has no conspicuous 

 white at all on the head, nor yellow on 

 the breast, whilst the latter has a patch of 

 white at the base of the skull, the nape of 

 the neck as well as the cheeks being white, 

 which distinguishes it from the Great Tit, 

 the latter being quite an inch longer than 

 either Marsh, Coal, or Blue Tit. 



All four species nest in holes of trees or 

 masonry, the Great and Blue Tits being 

 most easily accommodated, utilising upon 

 occasions most curious nesting sites — a letter 

 box or a disused pump. Marsh and Coal 

 Tits are more shy and retiring, the former 

 seldom venturing near houses for breeding 

 purposes, _ ^ ^^^^ always 



r building near 

 Vi/ the ground. 

 ^ The Long- 



tailed Tit makes 

 a most elabor- 

 ate nest, dome- 

 shaped like that 

 of the Wren, but 

 outwardly com- 

 posed chiefly of 

 grey lichen, felt- 

 ed together with 

 moss and cob- 

 webs, and 



BLUE TIT FEEDING ON A SUSPENDED 

 NUT-KEKNEL. 



