44 
British Birds. 
nesting last summer (1897) in Froyle Park, in Hampshire, where my friend, 
Captain Sawbridge, would on no account allow any of the birds to be disturbed. The 
Coal Tits were particularly tame, and I soon found their nesting-place in a tiny 
hole in the wall which formed the terrace between the garden and the park. While 
standing quite still under an elm tree, the little birds flew from the stable-yard into the 
branches not two feet above my head, with a feather or some other nesting material 
in their bill, and after making sure that all was safe, they descended, and hovered 
in the air for a second or two in front of the hole, into which they disappeared 
with their prize. This was not the only pair of Coal Tits nesting in this same 
old wall. The species also often selects a hole in a tree for its nest, and lays from 
six to eight or nine eggs, white, with dots of light and dark rufous, generally 
clustering round the larger end of the egg. 
The European Coal Tit ( Parus ater). Occasional individuals of the Continental 
form appear to visit our eastern coasts in autumn. They may be recognised from 
our British Coal Tit by their blue-grey back, and in winter plumage, when the olive- 
brown back of the British form is very pronounced, the two races are recognised at a 
glance, but in summer, when the olive-brown edges to the feathers of our British 
bird become abraded, and the general aspect becomes grey, I admit that the two races 
are difficult to distinguish. The European Coal Tit is found throughout Europe and 
Northern Asia. Its habits are similar to those of our British Coal Tit. 
true Parus palustris, the British representative shews certain differences which point to 
its recognition as a distinct insular form. It is a much darker bird, with a more 
marked buffish-brown rump and browner flanks. Though generally considered to be a 
marsh bird, from its popular name, our Marsh-Tit is by no means entirely a frequenter 
of the willows and water meadows, but on the contrary, is found, in winter at least, 
far away from such localities, in parks and woodlands, in company with companies of 
other Tits and kindred wanderers, feeding on insects, and even frequenting the 
neighbourhood of houses. It is to be told by its brown back, glossy blue-black crown, 
whitish face and under parts, isabelline-buff sides and flanks, and black throat. 
The nest is almost always in the hole of a tree, and sometimes the bird digs out 
its own nesting-place, being armed with a powerful little pick-axe of a bill, like all 
Tits, and knowing well where to attack a rotten part of a tree, generally a willow, 
wherein to place its nest. The latter is rather more carefully built than is usual with 
the ParidcB, and is made of moss and wool and hair. The eggs are from five to eight 
in number, white, with rufous spots, either scattered all over the egg, or collected at 
the larger end. 
The Continental Marsh-Tit ( Parus salicarius). This is supposed to be a 
THE BRITISH 
MARSH-TIT. 
(Parus dresseri.) 
The exact range of the different species of Marsh Tits in the 
Palsearctic Region, that is, in Europe and Northern Asia, is a very 
difficult problem to solve, and it is far from being settled at the 
present time. Compared with the Marsh-Tit of the Continent, the 
