244 



Armitt: The Birds of Rydal. 



species may be heard singing together. The Tree Pipit far out- 

 numbers it on lower ground. In autumn it collects (like the 

 Pied Wagtail) in lively parties, and lives upon the heather 

 uplands, where, I believe, from its actions, it eats the minute 

 green seeds of the plant. It disappears from the heights at 

 the end of September or early in October. 



Tree Creeper. Certhia familiaris L. Permanent resident. 

 Present in all the woods. Will undertake a second brood as 

 soon as the young of the first are self-supporting. Has nested 

 quite a number of times in a rustic garden summer-house. 



Great Tit. Parus major L. Permanent resident. Numerous. 

 Nests generally in sides of barns or in high walls ; sometimes in 

 holes of trees. Eats Beech-mast (beginning quite early), as does 

 also the Coal, but not, in my experience, the Marsh Titmouse. 

 It breaks open the Hazel-nut in winter by blows that resound 

 through the coppice. It eats the hard, green Yew-berry, reject- 

 ing the aril ; also Sunflower seed, Knapweed, and Elderberry. 

 It breaks the marble gall, I believe, for the grub inside. 



Blue Tit. Parus cseruleus L. Permanent resident. Very 

 numerous. Nests in walls, or — when they are to be had — in 

 small pocket-holes of trees. Searches house-fronts for spiders' 

 eggs (possibly spiders too) in September, as does the Great 

 Titmouse. It is not so great a fruit-eater as that bird, but will 

 eat Laburnum seed and seed of Amndo Phrugmites, and of 

 Alder. I have seen the hen, in the manner of the Marsh Tit, 

 peck at a hole of an Oak tree to enlarge it, incited by its mate. 



Coal Tit. Parus britannicus S.&D. Permanent resident. 

 General, though not so abundant as Great and Blue. Nests in 

 low walls ; very occasionally in tree-holes. Eats, besides Beech- 

 mast, Alder and the seed of Conifers, when the woody scales 

 have opened. 



British Marsh Tit. Parus dresseri Stein. Permanent 

 resident. Nests invariably in rotten or pollard trees. The only 

 bird I know that is partial to the Honeysuckle-berry ; and this it 

 feeds upon — rejecting, as Titmice do in all fruits, the juicy out- 

 side and picking at the hard seeds within — from early August 

 right on to November, when the second crop of flowers have 

 set their seeds in a dry, juiceless skin. It will eat the Yew- 

 berry ; and loves the Thistle seed, as well as Sweet Yiolet, 

 Knapweed, and even Hogweed. In late September I have seen 

 it apparently busy with Rhododendron seed, then in a hard, 

 green state. It breaks up the Cherry-gall for the grub inside. 



Naturalise, 



