BLUE TITMOUSE. 
165 
towards the south in autumn ; driven froin the inhospitable 
regions of the north by cold and hunger. They begin 
their course in September and October ; and travelling 
through forests and woods, pass through the centre of Europe. 
In the spring they return by the same route, and spread them¬ 
selves again over the north. 
The natural food of these birds consists of grain, and 
insects of almost every description. In spring and summer 
they principally consume small caterpillars, moths, spiders, 
etc., and their larvae, which are found under the leaves, and 
on the bark of trees. During autumn and winter, their 
principal occupation is seeking for the concealed eggs of 
insects, for which they often frequent fruit-trees in orchards ; 
and although in this search some mischief may be done 
to their buds, this is far more than compensated by the 
destruction of innumerable stores of eggs, ready to come 
forth in the first warm days of spring, to commence their 
much more destructive ravages. Seeds of berries, and the 
kernels of beech mast, they are also partial to. Nor does 
this wide range include all that the Blue Titmouse is fond 
of; for we have often seen it feasting among joints of meat 
in a village butcher’s shop, even in summer when food is 
plentiful; and on watching for what purpose it came there, 
we have seen it pick out carefully the fat by preference. 
Possibly they may also be of service in a butcher’s shop, 
as well as among apple-trees, by destroying the large flies 
that frequent such places, and the eggs produced by them. 
The Blue Titmice are very expert in snatching food 
from beneath brick or net traps set in winter, and we have 
often seen them take a piece of bread, or grain of corn, 
and fly up into the trees with it; on which occasions the 
sparrows and chaffinches, who are generally too cunning to 
venture under themselves, sometimes follow, and by their 
superior strength, take it away from them. The greater 
titmouse does not suffer himself to be so treated. 
