THE OX-EYE TIT. 
was allowed to fly free about the room). He would perch on 
the back of a chair, wagging his bullet-head with the utmost 
gravity, and watching the water animals as they sported about. 
One day, however, Tom for the first time observed a lizard 
crawling up the glass. Uttering a shrill cry, either of fear or 
defiance, he suddenly darted at the reptile, striking the glass 
with such force that the whole side was shattered to pieces, 
and the apartment at once deluged. 
The tomtit most frequently builds in oak or beech trees, and 
his nest will be found near the top. They lay as many as ten 
eggs, of a pink ground, and speckled with brown. 
There are various methods of snaring birds of the tit tribe, 
but those most worthy of recommendation on account of their 
simplicity and success are 
those spoken of by Bech- 
stein in his “ Chamber 
Birds.” He says : — 
“ In autumn or spring 
you go with a call bird, 
which is kept in a square 
bird-cage, to such places, 
especially orchards, where 
these tits resort, and place 
the cage upon the ground, 
and plant obliquely some 
sticks to which limed rods 
are attached. When they 
hear the decoy bird, curiosity, or the desire to join a fresh 
companion, soon brings them down. This is rendered more 
certain if a pipe be made of the hollow bone of a goose, the 
sound of which being heard to a greater distance, will bring 
all the tits together throughout the neighbourhood. 
“ In winter they may be attracted to the trap in gardens, if 
baited with the kernels of nuts, bacon, and oats. This trap is 
a small box, a foot long and eight inches high and broad, the 
sides of which, if you happen not to have boards painted green, 
may be made of elder sticks, which are propped by four round 
corner pillars, and then it only requires a wooden floor and 
covering tied to the corner sticks. In the centre of the floor is 
a little peg, across this a transverse stick is placed, upon which, 
on one side, the half of a walnut is fixed, and on the other a 
piece of bacon ; upon this rests another stick, which keeps the 
cover open about three or four inches. When the tit jumps 
THE OX-EYE TIT. 
