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/TITMICE [ParidcB]. 



The Crested Titmouse - - Par us en status. 



The Coal-Titmouse - . - Farus ater. 



The Marsh-Titmouse- - - Parus palustris. 



The Great Titmouse- - - Parus major. 



The Blue Titmouse - - - Parus ccBruleus. 



The Long-tailed Titmouse* - Parus caudatus. 



All the titmice are more or less active hunters of insects, 

 for which they are constantly on the watch, and no inhabitants 

 of the insect world come amiss to them as food. They are 

 especially useful in the destruction of many crop pests, which 

 they devour in all stages. During the winter they clear off 

 enormous quantities of eggs which have been deposited by 

 insects of various kinds in dormant buds, or near the buds, 

 and in the clefts of the bark or rind of trees. At this season 

 the titmice may be seen frequently running up and down the 

 trunks, stems, and branches, or hanging head downwards 

 from the smaller branches and twigs, prying anxiously into 

 each crevice and fold of the rind, in search of eggs, hiber- 

 nating larvae, or perfect insects. Their sight is so keen that 

 they can detect such small eggs as those of the winter moth, 

 and they have been seen actively devouring the minute red 

 eggs of the Bryobia upon the stems and branches of goose- 

 berry bushes and damson trees. 



It is sometimes alleged that the tits, like the sparrows, 

 pick out the buds of trees and shrubs, either wantonly or for 

 food, but this accusation is wrong and based upon insufficient 

 investigation of the circumstances, as titmice attack only 

 buds that are infested, for example, apple, pear, plum, and 

 damson buds infested with the larvae of the winter moth, or 

 the larvae of the apple blossom weevil. 



*Some naturalists have placed this bird in a separate genus — Acnditla ; others ktep 

 it in the genus Pants. 



