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THE COAL-TIT. 



(Parus ater.) 



THIS lively, pretty, amiable bird, also lives in the 

 thickest parts of the fir woods, where it carries on its 

 work of destroying the injurious insects, the number of 

 which is enormous. It used to be thought that the Coal- 

 Tit did harm to the young buds ; but this has never been 

 authenticated, and even if it does break one off here and 

 there, the mischief is small indeed, in comparison with 

 the service it performs from one year's end to the other. 

 Its call is shrill and clear " si-wih, ziwih, siwih," or 

 "silt, sitt" or a long-drawn "seeb, seeb." 



This bird occurs in considerable numbers in Hungary. 



The Coal-Titmouse is one of our common birds in the 

 United Kingdom and it is said to increase yearly, 

 although it is not yet so common as the Great and the 

 Blue Tits. It is a very useful little bird as it feeds its 

 young largely on green caterpillars ; but it eats nuts as 

 well as seeds the seeds of the Scotch fir it is specially 

 fond of. 



The Marsh -Titmouse Parus palustris is another 

 resident species in Great Britain, but it is, with the 

 exception of the Crested Titmouse, the least common of 

 our Tits. I have seen it much about our Middlesex 

 gardens, a superficial observer can note the difference 

 between this bird and the Coal-Tit easily because the 

 Marsh-Tit has not the white patch on the back of the 

 head which the Coal-Tit has. It is often seen in orchards 

 where it does good service, but is fond of the neighbour- 



