TIO BLUE TITMOUSE. 
with the same pattern, but with bluish-slate backs, blue-black crown, 
and more intense coloration. In Central Russia our Blue Titmouse 
meets P. pleskii, a pale blue-backed form, with the belly pure white, 
and only a pale yellow spot on the breast ; while in Siberia, Russia, 
and Poland, and, as a wanderer, in Eastern Germany, we find the 
larger and very beautiful Azure Titmouse, P. cyanus, in which pale 
blue and white are the prevailing colours. I mention this bird 
because live specimens are not unfrequently brought to England, 
and, sooner or later, there will probably be an attempt to add it to 
the British list. 
The Blue Titmouse makes its nest in April, and generally selects 
a hole in a wall or a tree; but, exceptionally, curious sites, too 
numerous to mention, have been recorded. The bird defends its 
dwelling with great pertinacity, hissing like a snake, and pecking at 
the fingers of the intruder in a way which has gained for it the name 
of “ Billy-biter.”. The nest is composed of wool and moss, with 
feathers and hair in varying proportions. The eggs, usually 7-8 
(though as many as 18 are on record), are white, spotted with light 
red—more minutely than those of our other Tits: measurements 
*58 by ‘45 in. This species and the Great Titmouse may be 
encouraged to almost any extent by hanging up suitable nesting- 
boxes. The young are fed largely with larvze of the gooseberry- and 
winter-moths, Ap/zdes and other insects; while the parents also 
prey on the grubs of wood-boring beetles, the maggots from oak- 
galls, spiders, &c. In summer and autumn the Blue Titmouse may 
perhaps damage fruit to a small extent ; in winter a meat-bone hung 
up will always prove an attraction. The note is a harsh chee, chee, 
chee. 
Adult male: forehead, anda line which runs backward over each 
eye and encircles the crown, white ; crown, cobalt-blue ; a blue-black 
stripe runs through the eye to the nape, where it meets a dark blue 
band which crosses the nape, encircles the white cheeks, and joins 
the bluish-black throat ; mantle and rump yellowish-green ; tail and 
wings blue, the coverts and inner secondaries of the latter tipped 
with white ; breast and abdomen sulphur-yellow, with a bluish-black 
streak down the middle; bill blackish; legs and feet bluish-grey. 
Length 43 in.; wing to the tips of 3rd—4th and longest quills 2°4in. 
The female is somewhat duller in colour. The young exhibit less 
blue and more yellow in their comparatively dingy plumage. 
