Great Titmouse. 



here, chattering, and bold and familiar and pugnacious withaL 

 There are no better friends to the gardener than the bold 

 Titmice which we see around us, so constantly employed in 

 searching for spiders, earwigs, woodlice, and all manner of 

 destructive insects, which they hunt for among the leaves and 

 pick out from the crevices of the bark as they run over the 

 branches. The original sense of the word Tit (says Professor 

 Skeat) is merely something small, as titlark, 'little lark;' tit- 

 mouse, t little mouse,' etc. The genus Parus contains in all 

 seven species, of which five are to be found abundantly in Wilt- 

 shire, the remaining two the ' Crested Tit ' (Parus cristatus) 

 and the 'Bearded Tit' (Parus biarmicus) being of very rare 

 occurrence in England, and no instance having reached me of 

 the appearance of either of them in this county. 



59. GREAT TITMOUSE (Parus major). 



First in point of size, and therefore at the head of the family, 

 stands this well-known bird, whose peculiar markings and well- 

 contrasted colours render it unmistakable. The black head, 

 white cheeks, and yellow breast, parted down the middle by 

 a broad black stripe, distinguish it at once from all others. 

 The Great Tit is to be found in every wooded district, and 

 it clears the buds and leaves of trees from an incredible 

 number of insects ; but it loves fruit as well, and being some- 

 what bold, fierce, and bloodthirsty, will occasionally vary its 

 diet with the flesh of some bird which it has done to death 

 with its sharp beak, and whose bones it picks with wonderful 

 skill. In Sweden it is known as Kiod Meise, or the 'Meat 

 Titmouse,' from its penchant for scraps of meat where it can 

 iind them, a taste which it shares with other members of the 

 family. In that country, as in England, during summer it 

 frequents woods and coppices; but in the autumn it collects 

 about the houses, ' to live amongst people/ as the peasants 

 express it : and when it comes to their dwellings, and, as they 

 say, picltar Jcittet af ylassn, ' picks the putty from the windows/ 



