'Y 1 MOUSE. PASSERES. PARUS. 999 
sects, and in this search its attitudes are most amusingly va- 
rious.—It has been considered as an enemy by horticulturists, 
in biting off the buds of fruit-trees; but I am convinced that 
this accusation has been inconsiderately made, and that the 
trifling injury occasionally committed by the abrasion of a few 
flower buds, is more than compensated by the destruction of in- 
numerable larvee, and eggs of the insect tribe, which are usually Food. 
deposited in or about those essential parts of fructification ; 
and which, if allowed to proceed through the necessary chan- 
ges, would effectually check all hope of produce. In winter 
the Blue-Cap frequently resorts to stack-yards and folds, 
where it feeds upon grain, chiefly oats, through the husk of 
which, after having fixed it firmly with its claws, it picks a 
hole, by repeated strokes of its bill.—It greedily devours car- 
rion, and is a regular attendant upon the wheel attached to a 
dog-kennel. Like the greater timouse, it will also attack 
other small birds, sometimes killing them in a similar manner,; 
and is remarkable for its hostility to the owl, which it follows 
and unremittingly persecutes, whenever the latter happens to 
be in motion during the day.—It breeds in the holes of trees Nest, &c. 
or walls, and forms its nest of mosses, lined with feathers and 
hair.—Its eggs, from six to eight in number (not eighteen or 
twenty, as mentioned by some authors), are white, spotted 
with brown at the larger end. The female is not easily to be 
driven from her nest, and, if an attempt be made to seize her 
upon it, bites with severity (from which has arisen one of the 
provincial terms), at the same time ruffling her feathers, his- 
sing and making the spitting noise of an irritated kitten. The 
call-notes of the Blue Titmouse are confined to a weak chirp, 
and a kind of harsh chatter. 
It is found throughout Europe, and usually in abundance. 
Puate 51. Fig. 2. Natural size. 
Bill bluish-grey. Forehead, band above the eyes, and cheeks, General 
white. Crown of the head Berlin blue. Streak before 4°8°"iP- 
and behind the eyes black. Nape of the neck, and col- 
