3 '4 CASSELLS BOOK OF BIRDS. 



THE BLUE TIT. 



The Blue Tit (Pari/s caruleus) is bluish green on the back, and blue on the head, wings, and 

 tail, while the under side is yellow ; a white line passes from the brow to the nape, and a narrow 

 bluish black line divides the white cheeks from the dark head ; the throat is encircled by a blue 

 band; the quills are slate-black, the hinder ones sky-blue on the outer web and white at the tip; the 

 tail-feathers are greyish blue. The eye is dark brown, the beak black, with white margins, and the 

 foot lead-grey. The female is less beautifully coloured than her mate, and the young somewhat paler. 

 This species is four inches and a half long and seven and a half broad ; the wing measures two 

 inches and a third, and the tail about two inches. 



The Blue Tits are met with over a greater extent of country than any other member of their 

 family. In Europe they are dispersed over the entire continent, from its most northern latitude to 

 the extreme south ; in Northern Africa and Eastern Asia they are replaced by a very similar species. 

 In Great Britain, where they are extremely common, they frequent gardens, groves, or orchards, and 

 have been popularly supposed to do considerable damage by pecking at the buds of fruit trees ; it is 

 much more likely, however, that these active little visitants to our orchards, when they seem thus 

 employed, are busily engaged in rendering us an important service, by clearing off the insects and 

 grubs that infest the blossoms sometimes in such large numbers as would seriously injure the crops. 

 " This species," says Mudie, " is perhaps more incessant than any other bird in hunting the buds and 

 branches of trees, especially of fruit trees near houses, for its insect prey ; but it will eat any animal 

 matter either in a recent or putrid state, and it appears to scent animal remains at a considerable 

 distance, as it hovers about slaughter-houses, dog-kennels, and other places where there are scraps of 

 carrion. It also haunts the neighbourhood of houses, and picks bones, eats bits of fat, or any refuse 

 it can find, and, when opportunity favours, will even kill other birds by striking them on the head, 

 and then picks their bones as clean as if they were cleared by the thousand inhabitants of an ant-hill. 

 Dead birds are, of course, lawful prize, for which it searches under trees and hedges after severe 

 weather. It is, in short, a very omnivorous bird, and plays the scavenger with equal diligence and 

 grace. It is also very bold and familiar, and will alight among the poultry in the farm-yard or amid 

 the dogs in the kennel ; nor does it much heed the presence of people even under the trees upon 

 which it is hunting." So strong is the liking of the Blue Tit for fat, that Gilbert White tells us that 

 he has known as many as twenty caught in one morning with a common snap mouse-trap, baited 

 with tallow or suet. 



" When the Blue Tit," says Yarrell, " has taken possession of a hole in a wall or decayed tree, 

 she is not readily induced to quit it, but defends her nest and eggs with great courage and per- 

 severance, puffing out her feathers and hissing like an angry kitten ; in some counties, indeed, she 

 goes by the name of ' Billy Biter' among bird-nesting boys, from a vivid remembrance of certain 

 impressions on their fingers. A female that had taken possession of a small wooden box hung up 

 against an out-building, into which she had carried abundance of material for her nest, and in the 

 midst of which she was then sitting upon her numerous eggs, allowed herself to be carried into a 

 house for examination, and when the box was replaced in its former situation, did not desert her 

 eggs, but hatched them and reared her young." 



The nest is generally built in a hole in some tree, in many instances excavated by the building 

 birds themselves ; and frequent and fierce are the battles that take place between the different couples, 

 relative to the possession of a particularly desirable spot. 'Within this cavity, a comfortable bed of 

 hair, moss, or feathers is arranged for the reception of the eggs, eight or ten in number, which are 

 white, with spots of rust-red, and about seven lines and a half long, and six in diameter. 



