268 



BLYTH ON BRITISH TITS. 



it occasionally utters the chaffinch's veet, veet; but the ttotes of this bird 

 are too well known to every body to require a minute description. 

 The Ox-eye has an endless variety of calls, some of which are harsh and 

 grating, others soft and pleasing : this species and the Cole Tit some- 

 times utter a note resembling pee wi, wi, wi, rvi, wi, so very similar as 

 to deceive even the birds themselves, as I have once or twice witnessed. 

 The usual call notes of the three Black-headed Tits have been very 

 appositely likened to the whetting of a scythe ; but they may be easily 

 distinguished: the Cole Tit's is peei-chy, peet-chy ; the Marsh Tit's 

 tis-yipp, tis-yipp, and that of the large species is sometimes, chee 

 turchee, turchee, turchee ; sometimes pincher, pincher, or winkly, 

 winkly, &c, but always louder and more harsh than the calls of the two 

 others. I have never known the Ox-eye to attempt a continuous song, 

 but I have heard him vary his calls in a very pleasing and agreeable 

 manner ; he usually, however, wearies the ear by an unvaried repetition 

 of the same note for half an hour together. I have been thus minute 

 in describing the notes of these birds, because several of the species of 

 Parns closely resemble each other in plumage and appearance, and 

 because much assistance is often thus afforded in the discriminating of 

 assimilant species. There would not have existed such confusion and 

 uncertainty respecting the Sylvia Hippolais, &c. of M. Temminck, 

 had that ornithologist described occasionally the notes of his birds, when 

 the species were difficult to be distinguished. It would be an endless 

 task, however, to commit to paper all the various call-notes of our 

 English Tits, but I have endeavoured to write down some of the most 

 common notes of each species; and I think, by a little attention to 

 the sounds as they are here expressed, the four common kinds may very 

 easily be discriminated. 



The Cole Tit has generally been described as a rarer species than either 

 of the others, and it has also been said, that this bird does not usually 

 haunt the vicinity of houses in the winter so much as the three others, 

 keeping more to woods and forests throughout the year. This does not 

 altogether accord with my observation, for the Cole Tit literally abounds 

 in my garden during the winter months j indeed, I think the four 

 species are about equally abundant. Their haunts are different, and 

 each, in its own respective habitat, may generally be found more plen- 

 tiful than any of the others. In the immediate vicinity of houses the 

 Blue Tit predominates ; in low, damp situations, and among willows, 

 the Marsh Tit is the most abundant species ; the Cole Tit may always 

 be found plentiful in the neighbourhood of firs, and among oak-trees ; 



