33 



Field Notes. — -146. Bees. — Reference has already been made 

 to this bird's habit of eating hive bees (p. 5), and this habit 

 is confirmed by the post-mortem records Nos. 135, 136. We 

 gather from record No. 139 that it also feeds upon humble 

 bees (Bombus sp.). On 12th August, 1903, Mr. T. A. Coward 

 found a number of dead humble bees under a lime tree at 

 Langley, East Cheshire, 12 of which were kindly forwarded to 

 me. The heads of several had been taken off, the stings in all 

 cases removed, and a large hole had been made in the thorax 

 of each example. This was apparently the work of a bird of 

 some kind, and possibly of the Great Tit, but the evidence is of 

 too circumstantial a nature to decide as to whether or not they 

 had been destroyed by this bird. 



147. Larvce of Coleoptera and Diptera. — In the autumn it 

 sometimes breaks up fungi (Boleti and Agarics) for the larvae 

 of Diptera and Coleoptera, &c., which these plants often harbour 

 in great numbers. 



148. Gall Insects. — It sometimes feeds upon the marble gall 

 insect (Cynifts kollari) in the same way as the Blue Tit. 



149. Seeds. — It feeds freely on beech masts and sweet chest- 

 nuts, and occasionally also on horse chestnuts. 



150. Fruit. — The Great Tit attacks pears in the same way as 

 the Blue Tit, and when it has once acquired a taste for this 

 fruit it becomes equally, if not more, destructive. 



151. Injurious Moth Larvce. — The nestlings are fed very 

 largely on moth larvae. In June, 1908, I watched a pair which 

 had a brood of 8 young in an iron pump in a small rose nursery 

 near Chester. 90 per cent, of the food brought in to the young 

 consisted of the larvae of Geometrid moths, which were collected 

 chiefly from the damson, apple and oak trees in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the nest. Those collected from the fruit 

 trees were chiefly those of the winter moth (C. brumata) and 

 those from the oak the Mottled Umber Moth (H. defoliaria) ( 

 Usually one caterpillar was brought in to the young on each 

 occasion, and often four visits were made in the course of 

 5 minutes. If we take the average number of visits at the rate 

 of 24 per hour for 16 hours, representing one working day, this 

 gives us a total of 384 visits per day. And if 20 days are. 

 occupied in rearing the young, this gives us a grand total of 

 7,680 visits to the nest during this period, so that the single 



(4127) D 



