ARMITT: WALLS AND WALL-NESTERS, 249 
After the Redstart, the race of Titmice claim attention as wall- 
nesters. Three out of the four species that are hole-breeders (for the 
Marsh Titmouse still apparently insists upon a tree) make extensive 
use of our masonry. And yet they are not, like the Redstart, 
exclusively devoted to walls. Great, Blue, and, I believe, Coal 
Titmouse will gladly breed in a tree if a suitable aperture can be 
found. But so scarce is this desideratum that I have known both 
Great and Blue Titmice contest a good tree-hole with the Pied 
Flycatcher. Very comical it is to see the site-seeking instincts of 
these birds awake over a fallen tree. A pair of Great Tits once 
drew attention by their excitement over a larch tree that had lately 
snapped in a storm, and had fallen over some six feet from the 
ground. One. bird poked in and out of the splintered pieces, 
flirting its tail with the liveliest gestures, and ‘ churring,’ as much as 
to say to the attendant mate, ‘Here, I do believe, is the very spot 
for us to nest in next summer! Most providential, that gale!’ 
Yet this was on the roth of January! and so winterly a month, 
too, that the snow lay deep on the ground. The Great Titmouse, 
however, is a faithful lover, and keeps company with his mate all 
through the dead season. Often in the depth of it he may be heard 
trying (for her benefit, no doubt) his spring note; and the ‘saw- 
sharpening’ had sounded close by that tree on the 26th of the 
previous month. : 
Still it is the rule of the three species named to nest In our 
masonry. It seems to me (though theories are dangerous !) that 
they are more particular than the Redstart to secure a cosy, sheltered 
hole, either in a banked-up or a verdure-clad wall, or in a byre side 
sheltered by tree. The Redstart that winters in warm regions will 
in summer nest in the barest and bleakest of walls, through which it 
can sometimes flit in and out on either side; and I have known the 
hest so exposed to draught, that the plumelets that decked the heads 
of the baby-birds within the nest waved in the chill evening aur. ° The 
Titmice, besides, are fond of having a tree or bit of hanging bush 
__ before their orifice, on which they may pause before entering. Most 
prudent, silent, and wary are they; and it is interesting to observe 
how cunningly their conduct varies with circumstance. For instance, 
two pairs of Blue Titmice, each engaged within a quarter of a mile 
2 of each other in the laborious task of feeding a nestful of 
_ Youngsters almost ready for flight, acted with a marked difference 
when watched. The pair whose nest was wholly out of reach in the 
_ Wall of a stable seemed aware of its safe height; they attended 
the watcher, who disturbed their ministrations to the noisy little 
2 = angry and chiding sounds. The other par, whose 
— Aug. 1895. 
