The Titmice are curious little 
birds, with strong short bills and 
very active habits. Several kinds 
of Titmice inhabit England, of 
which the Great Titmouse is 
the largest. 
It does not emigrate, finding a 
sufficiency of winter food in its 
native land. During the summer 
it generally haunts the forests, 
gardens, or shrubberies, and may 
be seen hopping and running 
about the branches of the trees 
in a most adroit manner, search- 
ing for insects, and occasionally 
knocking them out of their 
hiding-places by sharp blows of 
the bill. The beak of the Great 
Titmouse is, although so small, a very formidable one, for the creature has often 
been known to set upon the smaller birds, and to kill them by repeated blows 
on the head, afterwards pulling the skull to pieces, and picking out the brains. 
During the winter, the Great Titmouse draws near to human habitations, and 
by foraging among the barns and outhouses, seldom fails in discovering an 
ample supply of food. 
The nest of the Great Titmouse is always made in some convenient hollow, 
generally that of a tree, but often in the holes of old walls, and in the cavities 
that are formed by thick gnarled roots in the sides of a bank. Hollow trees, 
however, are the favourite nesting-places of this bird, which is able to shape the 
hollow to its liking, by chiselling away the decayed wood with its sharp, strong- 
beak. The materials of which the nest is made vary according to the locality. 
Should the hollow be a deep and warm one, the bird takes very little trouble 
about the nest, merely bringing a few feathers and mosses as a soft bed on 
which to place the eggs. If, however, the locality be more exposed, the 
Titmouse builds a regular nest of moss, hair, and feathers, in which to lay its 
eggs. There are generally from eight to twelve eggs in each nest, and their 
colour is whitish grey, covered with mottlings of a rusty red, which are thickly 
gathered towards the larger end. 
This bird is ashy green above, yellow below, and with a black head and 
throat. 
GREAT TITMOUSE. — Par us major . 
