35^ Common Wild Birds of the Scarborough District. 



When sitting in its nest hole both blue and great Titmice in resenting 

 the calls of unwelcome visitors hiss and peck quite alarmingly. Whilst 

 ' bird-nesting ' with a friend in one of our local woods, my companion 

 inspected a hollow tree stump some four to five feet high, six to eight 

 inches thick and open to th.e sky at top. Putting his face to the opening 

 and trying to peep in, my friend very suddenly withdrew, and called to 

 me saying : ' I've got something here.' When I myself attempted to 

 investigate the something I was met by a noise more or less like the ' powf ' 

 of a railway engine. Sitting in the bottom of the hole was a Great Tit- 

 mouse and each time it gave a hiss, or rather a bark, the trumpet-shaped 

 hollow stump, acting like a gramaphone horn, greatly intensified the sound. 

 After we liad inspected for some minutes, not knowing what was within, 

 the bird flew out and we knew the author of what really was, until its 

 cause was apparent, a rather terrifying sound. 



The Coal Titmouse (Par us ater L.). Fairly common all the year round 

 in wooded districts, coming into the town parks on occasion, where its 

 weak imitation of the Great Tit's song may be heard as early as January 

 2 1st. It usually sings in the tops of tall trees. Its nest is often placed in 

 holes in or very near the ground, and I once found nine young ones in a 

 mouse's hole in a sandy bank. Occasionally I have seen it in parties 

 feeding amongst furze bushes out on the open moors and a long way from 

 woods. 



The Marsh Titmouse [Pants paluslvis L,). More often seen here than 

 the last named and more commonly found nesting in tree holes from 

 .seven to fifteen feet above ground. A little hair or rabbit fur clinging to 

 the outside of the nest hole often betrays the position. In my bird 



note-book I have made more than one attempt to reduce this bird's notes 

 to human sounds in phonetic spelling. I do not introduce them here as 

 they are of little use unless vocalized. The notes are very sharp and 

 more varied than those of the Coal Tit. On more than one occasion I 

 have seen the Marsh Tit picking grain from freshly-dropped horse-dung 

 on a country road. On one particular occasion the bird flew from a 

 spruce tree down to the horse-dung, picked out a grain and carried it 

 back to the tree, after picking at it there the bird returned again and again 

 to the road, repeating the action several times whilst I stood within four 

 yards. The six eggs laid by this bird weigh each -04 oz. 



*The Blue Titmouse {Par us coeritleus L.). Locally known as bluey, 

 ])lue-cap and billy biter here as elsewhere in England, this is by far the 

 commonest member of its genus. Its cheery call note may be heard almost 

 all the year round, not only in woods and gardens but in our town streets. 

 One often meets it in quite unlikely places, sometimes feeding in the crevices 

 of our sea cliffs or far out on the open moors. I have seen it feeding on 

 the berries of the service tree. It would indeed be an utterly wretched 

 spot where the Blue Tit could not find a bite. Holes in walls, posts, 

 trees, anything or anywhere will serve for the nest of felted wool, hair and 

 feathers which is usually from three to ten feet above ground. An egg 

 weighs -043 oz. and I have found as many as eight in a nest. 



*The Common Wren {Troglodytes parvidus Koch). Much less common 

 and less noticeable than the Blue Titmouse this bird is more often called 

 Tom-tit than Wren. Haunting hedge-rows, low bushes and close cover 

 generally, it sometimes takes higher flights or climbs I hr^ve thus 

 seen it whilst foraging work its way up a tree and enter an old 

 rook's nest forty feet above ground where it spent several minutes. 

 The well-known loud and quick-time song of the Wren is not its only 

 vocal performance. It occasionally sings quite another song, but which 

 I have only heard on one occasion. On Augu.st 20th, '04, amongst some 

 close bushes in R. wood, I heard a wren sing a faint low song in slower 

 time and quite unlike its usual performance. The song seemed as faint 

 and sharp as that of the Gold-crest but much longer continued. I have 

 only one ornithological friend who has heard this select song. Never 



Naturalist^ 



