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THE BLUE TITMOUSE. 

 (Parus coeruleus.) 



CROWN bright blue, forehead and cheeks white. A dark 

 stripe is drawn from above the eyes towards the nape. 

 The white cheeks are edged at the back and underneath, 

 with black. The under part and rump are sulphur- 

 yellow, or rather lemon colour. Tail and wings blue, 

 like the bloom on a ripe plum. There is an oblique 

 white stripe on the wings. The beak is like a little 

 grain of wheat. Legs bluish. The nest is placed in 

 holes of trees with small opening and is composed of 

 soft stuff and is very lightly built. The clutch consists 

 of seven to ten eggs, which are like those of the Great-tit, 

 only much smaller. As many as eighteen eggs have 

 been recorded as being found in one nest. 



It is one of the prettiest and most useful birds, and 

 in its actions resembles the other Tits. The number 

 of insects destroyed by these rises into millions, and it 

 has been observed that one pair, in the course of 

 seventeen hours brought food to their young 475 times. 

 Its cry is clear and piercing: " Tgi, tgi, tgi' or 

 "Ze, 2e, zirr," or "Ze, ze, he-he-he-he-he." 



It is a real treasure, and not rare in Hungary. 



The Blue-tit is one of our best known and best liked 

 British birds. In the autumn great numbers arrive on 

 our east coasts. The Blue-tit, especially, devours a 

 powerful tiny beetle with the ominous name of Scolytus 

 destructor, which works its way from the chrysalis stage 

 at the end of a tunnel bored bv the mother beetle in the 

 tree, until it conies out, after biting a round hole in the 



