THE BEARDED TITMOUSE. 
737 
climbing birds, still they might challenge a parrot for a 
wager at that occupation; they are not furnished with 
carpenter’s tools, like the Woodpeckers, and yet they are 
ever hammering and chiselling at some piece of bark or 
rotten branch; they are no birds of prey, but, for all that, 
thieve and plunder in proportion to their size, their whole 
life long; they cannot be called fighting birds, and yet 
they are always quarrelling with other animals, both 
greater and less than themselves. They almost always 
live in bands, and still they are ever at loggerheads with 
one another; more so, perhaps, than any other class of 
birds. In Spain, they call our Great Tit by the soubriquet 
of “ Guerrero,” that is to say, warrior, or, better, brawler; 
a more fitting nickname could not perhaps be found for 
him. Inquisitive by nature, they discover and see 
everything,—every cat, bird of prey or any other enemy, 
every morsel of food, every insect, let it be ever so 
cunningly hidden in a crevice of the bank. Bold and 
courageous, they hold their own against adversaries 
stronger even than themselves, and they will almost 
always drive any common, rapacious animal from the 
object of its chase, if they only see it in time, by their 
mocking abuse and scolding. They are very intelligent, 
and soon find out if they are allowed to remain unmo¬ 
lested, becoming extraordinarily tame and trustful 
towards man, taking up their abode near him as willingly 
as in the most secluded wood: for all this, however, they 
always show great independence of character. They 
make themselves as comfortable as circumstances will 
allow in every locality. If you bring a freshly-caught 
Titmouse into a room it will not conduct itself in the 
impetuous, silly manner adopted by most other birds: 
after a few minutes it behaves as though it had lived in 
