AZURE TIT. 11 



adjacent parts of the Russian dominions, extending in 

 winter through the greatest part of European Russia, 

 being found at St. Petersburg, as well as on the banks 

 of the Wolga, and sometimes ranging from thence into 

 Poland and Prussia. According to Naumann, it is 

 more frequently found in Sweden than in the north of 

 Germany. An occasional specimen may be sometimes 

 found in Saxony, or even in Austria, but it does not 

 occur further to the south or west. 



In the beginning of autumn it migrates into warmer 

 latitudes, as in winter or early spring, an occasional 

 pair, or single bird only, will be found in the north- 

 west. 



Naumann, who is almost the only author from whom 

 we can glean anything about the habits of this 

 bird, says that it does not appear to affect trees with 

 pointed leaves, like the fir or pine, preferring willow 

 bushes in meadows by the side of rivers and watery 

 places. In winter they are found more plentifully in 

 the neighbourhood of houses, and come even into 

 towns. It is a lively, agile, and fearless bird, like the 

 rest of its tribe, very skilful in climbing, and is seen, 

 like the Blue Tit, clinging to boughs and branches. 

 It is, however, readily distinguished from the other 

 allied Tits by its longer tail. 



Bechstein compares its call-note to that of the House 

 Sparrow, but it is softer. 



It lives on insects and their eggs, larvae, and pupee, 

 which it diligently picks out from the open crevices 

 of bark, and to get at which, like the Blue Tit, it 

 destroys many buds, blossoms, and leaves. It is also 

 fond of seeds and the kernels of nuts, upon which it 

 may be seen hammering with its beak, having carefully 

 fixed the object in a chink of the tree. 



