Lhe Blue Trt. 161 
least provocation. Its food consists of insects, apples, 
pears, and beech-nuts, and it is very fond of fat meat. 
Me hime tit, or “Tom Tit as it is called, is to be 
found in every country place in trees, on the ground, 
in butchers’ premises, kennels, orchards, woods, and 
flower-gardens, where it pays frequent visits to ros¢s 
bushes in search of the insects collected on the young 
shoots. This bird has great power of clinging with its — 
feet, which it will do for some minutes tosether. t 
have even seen it hanging with its back downwards to 
a smooth round piece of iron driven into a wall which 
supported some spouting, pecking at something hidden 
in the joint of the iron and zinc; upon leaving it, it 
flitted to the wall, where it hung, tail to the ground, 
for some seconds. ‘This is not a rare occurrence ; it 
may often be seen in these movements. If any one 
living in the country wishes ‘to be amused in the winter 
for some few minutes by the movements of this saucy 
little fellow, he has only to tie a piece of fat meat to 
_a short length of twine, and suspend it from a standard 
rose tree within sight of the sitting-room window, and 
he will then see many of its clever harlequin tricks. 
LL 
