BLUE TITMOUSE. 
167 
becomes comparatively rare or unequally dis- 
tributed. In some parts there the wood becomes 
more scattered and stunted, and ultimately fails 
to grow in sufficient profusion ; and in others 
the forest tract is too dense and extended to 
furnish haunts suited to the liking of the Blue 
Titmouse. It delights also in society and cul- 
tivation, living in our gardens, and in the vicinity 
of our dwellings, frequenting the farm and poultry 
yard, and roosting under the eaves of ricks or 
thacked cottages, in the rents of walls, almost in 
any part where shelter can be found. The 
carvings of larger buildings also serve to protect 
it during night. For nearly ten years an indi- 
vidual, during summer and winter, has slept 
under the carved work of one of the capitals 
heading the pillars which support our own front 
door, and during the period mentioned we have 
only known the place untenanted once or twice. 
Though we consider insects to be the general 
food of the pari, it is by no means confined to 
these only. In winter, when the supply becomes 
more scanty, it is more varied, grains and kernels 
form a great proportion of it, and we have fre- 
quently observed the Blue, Greater, and Cole 
Titmice assembled together, and feeding on the 
beech mast under the trees, turning them over, 
and at the same time searching amidst the fallen 
leaves, and undoubtedly procuring insect food 
also. The poultry-yard is also a favourite resort, 
a boiled potatoe or half-picked bone are not 
despised, and the skeleton of a cooked fowl sus- 
