98 



BRITISH BIRDS 



variation, have similar sharp, incisive, and somewhat metallic 

 qualities. 



In spring the wandering little companies break up, and about 

 the end of April breeding begins. The nest is placed in a hole in a 

 tree or wall, or wherever a suitable cavity is found. It is loosely 

 formed of dry grass or moss, lined with wool, hair, and a quantity 

 of feathers. Five to eight eggs are usually laid, in some cases 

 as many as twelve and fourteen ; in colour they are like those of 

 the great tit, and, as in the case of that species, the incubating 

 bird sits closely on her eggs and hisses like a snake when interfered 

 with. 



The blue tit is omnivorous in its diet. In summer it feeds 

 principally on caterpillars, aphides, and insects of all kinds, some- 

 times catching them on the wing. At other seasons it eats fruit 

 and seeds of various kinds, buds, flesh, and, in fact, almost anything 

 it can get. 



Crested Titmouse. 



Parus cristatus. 





FIG. 35. CRESTED TIT. natural size. 



Feathers of the 

 crown elongated, 

 and forming when 

 erected a pointed 

 crest, black, edged 

 with white ; cheeks 

 and sides of the neck 

 white ; throat, collar, 

 and a streak across 

 the temples black ; 

 all the other parts 

 reddish brown ; 

 lower parts white, 

 faintly tinged with 

 red. Length, four 

 inches and three- 

 quarters. 



The crested tit 



is one of the rarest and most local of British birds, being re- 

 stricted to a few extensive pine-forests in the north of Scotland ; 



