52 
THE LADIES MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
of withered grass, wool, feathers, and hair; lay seven or eight white 
sparingly spotted eggs, and sit about a fortnight. They are not song¬ 
birds, but have several lively calls. In winter, when hard pressed for food, 
they sometimes destroy many hive-bees. This I have often watched 
them at till, to save the bees, I have been obliged to shoot the aggressor. 
He seats himself at the door of the hive, and taps with his bill to provoke 
the bees to come forth. The first bee that ventures out is instantly seized 
by the middle and carried off to a tree, and there beaten against the branch 
till it is nearly dead. The bird then separates the head and thorax, which 
it swallows, from the abdomen, which it rejects, as containing the sting. 
The bird immediately hies back again for another victim. My attention 
w r as first drawn to this circumstance by observing a great number of the 
abdomens of bees lying on the snow under a cherry-tree in front of an 
apiary in an orchard; and which made me watch for, and kill the depre¬ 
dators. It is only some individuals of this species which have the knack 
of killing bees in this manner, and these should be watched for and shot; 
for otherwise valuable stocks of bees may be seriously reduced by them. 
The colours of this bird are—head and throat black; back green ; beneath 
yellow-green, with a black line in the middle ; quills tipped with blue and 
white ; length six inches. 
P. cceruleus , Blue Titmouse.—This is one of the smallest and most 
familiar of the family, always inclined to be near the dwellings of man, 
as well for protection against birds of prey as for obtaining a hole in a 
wall to nestle in. It lives chiefly on small insects; and, as many of these 
hide on the lower sides of branches, the bird is obliged to hang itself from 
the branch with its back downwards, in order to see its prey, and in this 
position it spends half its days. This little bird is naturally vigilant, and 
in consequence is very useful to other birds in sounding a note of alarm 
on the approach of an enemy; for as soon as a cat, strange dog, fox, or 
sparrow-hawk, comes in sight, then our little bird vociferates its warning 
in a gruff hurried note. Though so small a bird, it is very prolific, often 
bringing forth a brood of from ten to fourteen young ones, which after they 
have flown, are permitted to roost on the place where they were hatched, 
for some time before they finally leave their parents. 
P. ater , the Cole Titmouse, is a species not quite five inches in length ; 
bill and head black, with a white spot on the hinder part; above green- 
grey ; beneath white, and wing-coverts tipped with white. This little bird 
is seldom seen near houses, but inhabits retired parts of woods, where it 
breeds and lives on insects, like the other species. 
P. palustris, the Marsh Titmouse.—This species has also a black head, 
but the cheeks are white ; back greenish; beneath white; and lead- 
