170 The Long-tatled Tit. 
The Long-tailed Tit is the most sociable and 
amiable of our collection of common tits, for, from 
the time the young leave the nest until the next 
_ spring, both parents and brood keep together, search- 
ing each bush in unbroken friendship, and agreeing 
in every way. When one of the party leaves the 
thicket, it is generally followed by another before it 
has gone many yards from the spot where it had been 
in company with the rest, then another and another 
follows the line, till at last there is not one left. 
These happy families go about in the autumn and 
winter, exploring every place likely to supply food. 
Their skirmishers fly in a single line, as if to keep up 
the old game of “ Follow the leader.’ They feed on 
caterpillars and pupz of insects: of this last-mentioned 
food they are very fond—it forms the greater part-.of 
their diet. I have never known them touch fruit, 
though I have seen several parties of them in pear 
and plum trees when the fruit was ripe, as they have 
journeyed through our district. They never stay long 
in a place, even if it be one of the most suitable. 
This bird has many names, and in different parts 
