BLUE TIT. 
PAllUS CsERULEUS. 
This active member of the Tit family appears common in most parts of Great Britain. I have no record 
among my notes of having observed this species in the Hebrides; so I conclude that, if found at all, u is far 
from numerous in those barren islands. As far north as Eoss-shire it is plentiful in most wooded districts, 
the specimens in my collection having been obtained in a plantation on the cast coast, near Nigg. 
The Blue Tit is a most courageous little bird, the female generally resenting an approach to her nest 
to the utmost of her ability, and occasionally attacking the intruder with the greatest ferocity. The pair that 
I required as specimens, together with their brood (who were just in the act ol leaving the old stump in which 
they had been hatched), were all captured by means of a butterfly-net, the parents refusing to desert their 
young. 
It is an open question whether this species is so injurious to the buds of fruit-trees as some gardeners 
would have us believe. At all events, the damage they inflict at one time is amply compensated for by the 
immense number of insects they destroy when providing for the requirements of their brood. 
Like most others of their family, this species, in order to rear its young, resorts to holes in trees, walls, 
old buildings, and other similar localities. Numerous quaint situations have come under my observation, 
perhaps the strangest (owing to constant traffic) being a hole in one of the iron lamp-posts in the Montpellier 
Road, in Brighton. If I remember right, the bird made use of this massive cradle for several years, and 
safely brought out its brood. 
In winter these birds collect in flocks numbering from three or four to a dozen or more. They may 
commonly be met with frequenting the reed-beds in the eastern counties. I have on several occasions noticed a 
party join company with Bearded Tits, the two species intermingling while climbing among the stems of the 
reeds. The partnership, however, would not last long ; on being disturbed the Bearded Tits would take a short 
flight and then drop into the thickest cover, while their visitors, mounting in the air, would betake themselves 
to fresh quarters. An immense quantity of insect life is to be found among the stems of the reeds during 
winter ; and this abundance of food accounts for the presence of these birds in such localities at this season. 
Ear y in November 1881, while sheltering from a storm of wind and rain in a boat-shed which was newly 
X reed ' I “° ti “ dth “‘ caterpillars dropped down from tiro roof soon 
to^eTs The oxten dT a °7!° ^ *° *«&«> with insects, and they fell down 
of food for insect eatimr V, T' " j n • SmT0Und some of the lar ge r broads must contain an endless supply 
° 5 ^ ltlSStl ' anSe “ ““ °f «» Titmouse family haven” 
