THE BLUE TIT. 413 



the dark more of a greyish and greenish cast, than the birds 

 in mature plumage. 



If the length of tail in the last species be included, it is 

 longer than the present ; but as the tail is not half the length, 

 the body of the bird is longer ; and it is also more stoutly 

 formed, and one-half heavier, being rather more than three 

 eighths of an ounce. The length from the eye to the point 

 of the bill has been already stated as being the shortest of 

 any British bird, excepting the long-tailed tit. It is consi- 

 derably shorter, in proportion to the size and weight of the 

 bird, than that of the great tit ; and hence the blue one is 

 the most expert in the capture of very small game ; and its 

 stroke and bite are sharper in proportion. 



The blue tit is a tree or bush bird, like most of the other 

 species; but it is an inhabitant of the cultivated lands and 

 their margins, rather than of the wilds. It nestles, and 

 indeed generally lodges for the night, in holes of trees or of 

 walls, and it is said to vary them with the season, choosing 

 warmer ones in winter and colder ones in summer, though 

 that wants confirmation ; but the trees may be considered as 

 its native pastures, in which, during the greater part of the 

 year, it hunts for insects and larvae. It is, perhaps, more 

 incessant than any other bird in hunting the buds and 

 branches of trees, especially of fruit trees near houses, for its 

 insect prey. But it is not confined to these. It will eat 

 any animal matter either in a recent or putrid state j and it 

 appears to scent animal remains at a considerable distance, 

 as it hovers about slaughter-houses, dog-kennels, and other 

 places where there are animal scraps or carrion. It also 

 haunts the neighbourhood of houses, and picks bones, eats 

 bits of fat or any refuse that it can find ; and when opportu- 

 nity favours, it kills other birds by punching them on the 

 head, and picks their bones as clean as if they were cleaned 

 by the thousands of an ant-hill. Dead birds are, of course, 



