310 SUMMER. 



They are remarkably voracious, and will devour any 

 animal substance, even though close to a house ; and 

 often, when cats are lying in wait to spring upon other 

 birds, a titmouse will whisk across with so much 

 rapidity as to cause puss to lose her prey. The noise 

 that they make is far from melodious, being similar to 

 that produced by the rubbing of a file against the edge 

 of a thin piece of iron, and not very unlike the slow 

 breaking of the branch of a tree, when the fibres give 

 way with snaps, the one after the other. 



The largest is the great titmouse, or ox-eye (parus 

 major.) It weighs about an ounce and a quarter, is 

 half a foot in length, and about nine inches in the 

 stretch of the wings. Its colours are not so firmly 

 marked as those of some other birds; but the male has 

 a fine gloss. The bill, vent, lower part of the back, 

 and throat, are black, and from the latter there is 

 a black line along the middle of the breast, the cheeks 

 are white, and there is a white spot on the nape ; the 

 upper part is greenish grey, which passes into an olive 

 green on the back. The wings and tail are tipped 

 with pale blue, and the latter is edged with white. 

 The under part is sulphur yellow. The female is 

 nearly of the same tints as the male, only the lustre is 

 inferior. , 



The great titmouse builds in holes of trees, which it 

 sometimes excavates for itself, if the trees are in a 

 decayed state. It also nestles in holes of ruined 

 buildings, and in the forks of pine trees, while they 

 are so young as to be thickly branched to the ground. 

 This bird, and, indeed, all the genus, are remarkable 

 for the neatness of their nests. They are deep, and 

 well covered, completely proof against the rain, and 



