THE TIT FAMILY. 63 



cately tinted and veined leaves, is left severelj' alone. Evi- 

 dently it has no insect population as yet. 



Mrs. Tit has nothing much to boast of in the way of dress. 

 Her colours are mainly blue-blacks, whites, and greys. But 

 what cannot Nature do with even those? I am the more in- 

 clined to praise the tit just now because, for some reason or 

 other which is now unexplainable, she was by no means one 

 of my favourites as a boy. She was generally held to be "too 

 cheeky altogether." Her chatter overhead showed it, and 

 she never came down to the ground in the familiar way the 

 sparrows, robins, wagtails, and other birds did. If ever one 

 was trapped — a very rare occurrence — there was as much 

 jubilation in our savage little souls as there is amongst the 

 angels over the sinner that repenteth. Even the delicate little 

 blue tit, which we do not see here, with his cerulean head, 

 his black and white collar, his yellow under parts, and his 

 grey-blue back, was not pretty enough to soften our hearts 

 then. There was, however, a bit of shy appreciation of the 

 long-tailed chatter-mag, by which name Acredida caudata 

 of the white head was known to the country folks. Here was 

 a lightsome little creature which even the country boy might 

 "ignorantly worship." And with good reason. It is true that 

 his barbarian tendencies taught him to throw stones even at 

 the chatter-mag, but it was with a well-founded belief that 

 they would never reach their mark, and they never did. To- 

 day, in China, the fluttering movements of the white variety of 

 the Paradise flycatcher remind me of the scuttling little flight 

 of the long-tailed tits as they hurried along the English hedge- 

 rows playing an eternal game of "follow my leader," gaining a 

 livelihood en rowfe, and keeping thelittle company together — the 

 long tails are never alone — by their pleasant little chatter. 

 You may see their Chinese representatives doing much the 

 same thing during the winter months. Just now the foliage 

 is too thick for onlookers properly to observe such restless 

 little sprites. 



Tits are found in most countries. Ornithologists speak 

 of some 120 species, and there are perhaps a score of these 

 described amongst the birds of China. It is difficult, however, 

 to be sure of the correct nomenclature when authorities 

 disagree. Thus Pants Commixtus of Pere David is, for ex- 

 ample, Parus Minor of Swinhoe. But, after all, for our pur- 

 pose in these chats, this is a matter which may well be left 

 for the learned to fight out. Exactitude, though very desir- 

 able in a hundred different ways, is not essential to admir- 

 ation. The eye is caught before the deep recesses of the mind 

 are reached ; the ear before there is logical classification ; 

 and it is through Eye -gate and Ear-gate — to borrow terms 

 from Bunyan — that most people are drawn into a love of 



