* protecti held out to this very interesting species. That it is nearly omni-
I do, the hand of protection to be heié ou j g
for it will pick a chicken-bone as clean as

carnivorous we have abundant proofs

ror certain!
el and “rill strive for mastery over all birds weaker ee itself, and, if successful, will kill and
eat them, or at least that most vital part the brain. Young birds all aul CRG [PCY i hs arog many
ances recorded of its depredations among them. If placed ima cage with other small birds,
and sometimes wea
it fights and defends itself with the spirit and boldness of an ancient

are the inst
it almost invariably kills them ;
If shot at and only wounded,

k individuals of its own species have fallen victims.

Spartan. .
*‘Tts food,” says Macgillivray, “‘ consists of insects, pupe, larvee, buds and seeds of various kinds, in search

of which it sometimes betakes itself to the ground. It is chiefly on trees, however, that it is to be seen ; and
there it hops and skips with great alacrity, manife
every variety of position, and continually fluttering
among the buds and leaves. Its flight is usually shor

a continuous flutter of the wings; but when necessary it can
It is not particularly shy, but may be easily approached within shot, although

sting a constant cheerfulness, standing and hanging in
about in search of food in the crevices of the bark, and
t, being merely from tree to tree, and is performed by
accomplish an extended excursion, and then flies
with considerable undulation.
‘tis rather more observant of intruders upon its haunts than the other species of the genus, which are re-
markably inattentive to appearances of danger.”

The sites chosen for nidification are extremely various, and often very singular ; for
aces for this purpose are a hole in a tree, a crevice in a rock, or an opening in a wall, it freely
d room, and has been known to pass through a hole in a cupboard and make its nest on one

although the

natural pl
enters a deserte
of the shelves ; if a flower-pot be turned topsy-turvy, it is just as likely to select the interior for the situation
of its future nest. Such sites, and the story of the pump, have been many times recorded in ornithological
works; and I am sure they are all true; for I have myself seen a Tit’s nest in the box and close to the
piston-rod of a constantly used pump, the female sitting on which allowed the top to be taken off
without evincing fear or distrust, that I might have an opportunity of witnessing the fact. This occurred
at Preston Hall, in Kent; and the keeper in whose garden the pump was situated told me it was the
third time the bird had nested there, and that two broods had been hatched in this remarkable situation.
I have also frequently seen the Great Tits build within the deserted nests of the Jay, Magpie, and other
large birds.

The sexes of the Great Tit are similarly coloured; but the markings of the female are somewhat
less bold, and her tints are not quite so bright. The young, when leaving the nest, although bearing a general
resemblance to the adults, have the white of the cheeks strongly tinged with yellow, as is the case with
the young of the Coal and Blue Tits, but not of the Marsh-Tit, which belongs to another section of the
Paride—the one to which the generic term Pecile has been given.

The eggs are six or eight in number, very beautifully spotted with red on a white ground, and
so nearly resemble those of the Nuthatch as not to be easily distinguished. The nest 1s sometimes
composed of a quantity of compacted moss, feathers, hair, and other materials, but more generally of
thickly matted rabbit-hair and wool, intermingled with green moss. |

The Plate represents a male and a female, of the natural size, on a branch of a species of poplar,
gathered when it was loaded with catkins, in Ravensbury Park, the seat of G. P. Bidder, Esq., at Mitcham.