GREAT TITMOUSE 
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laid, but sometimes as many as a dozen, or even 
sixteen. They are dull white, usually faintly 
spotted with pink about the larger end, but often 
quite spotless. 
GREAT TITMOUSE. 
{Par us major.) 
Ox-eye, Blackcap. — As his name indicates, the 
Great Tit is considerably the largest of his family, 
being about the size of a House-sparrow. His 
strong, piebald markings of black, greenish-yellow, 
and white also make him easy to distinguish from 
his near relations. His head, neck, and throat 
are black, while a black stripe is prolonged down 
the middle of his breast, which is bright greenish- 
yellow ; he has a white patch on either cheek, and 
his back, wings, and tail are chiefly bluish-grey, 
with darker quill-feathers on the wings. He is a 
strong and masterful bird, being indeed a bit of a 
cannibal, among his other habits ; he will kill 
smaller and weaker birds, splitting their heads to 
get at the brains, of which he is especially fond, 
and I once remember driving him out of a hole in 
a pollard willow which contained the mangled 
body of a hen Redstart lying upon her broken 
egg-shells. But, as is generally the case with 
F 
