At Aberarder, Inverness-shire, I observed this species to be numerous in September, 1842, particularly in Dunmaglass wood, composed chiefly of larch and Scotch fir: about the middle of the month some were heard singing.

The FIRE-CRESTED REGULUS (R. ignicapillus) is stated to have been observed in a garden at Tralee, but without further information, cannot be included in the Irish Fauna.

THE GREAT TIT.*

Parus major, Linn.

Is common and resident,

Frequenting town plantations as well as those in the country. I have observed it also in districts destitute of trees, and where hawthorn hedges afforded the only shelter. Its sawing song, is commenced very early; in three successive years this was heard about Belfast on the 5th of January; 23rd and 24th of Dec.; and towards the end of January was once heard when ice, an inch in thickness, covered the ponds near the songster's station. Some time after the breeding season, as in September, the sawing is again commonly heard. A pair of these birds along with two blue titmice daily, during a winter, visited the window-sill of a friend's house in the country † at a particular hour, where crumbs of bread were laid for them. In the following winter the latter species only renewed its visits, which were daily, until the severe weather in the middle of February, when a pair of great titmice, presumed to be the same, re-appeared, and continued to come as in the former season.

On looking to the food contained in three of the P. major killed in February and March, it was found to be seeds, and small coleopterous insects and larvæ. In a friend's garden near Belfast,

* Titmouse is the name commonly applied to all the British species of the genus Parus.

† They are occasionally seen on the window-sills of our house in Belfast, without being tempted by food; but the house situated in a square partially planted with trees and shrubs, and before it is a narrow belt of shrubbery.

these birds were in one season seen to watch and seize upon the bees issuing from their hives when they first began to stir about in spring. Vengeance was accordingly let loose upon them, and in the usual undiscriminating manner, from which the whole genus of tits suffered, although a very few individuals of the one species only were known to commit the crime. Shots were to be heard in all directions about the demesne, until the wrath of the owner was appeased by a considerable massacre having taken place. Here, also, the gardener, probably not without reason, accuses this species (which he distinguishes by the name of Billynipper) of being very destructive to peas. They are said to break through the pods with their strong bills, opposite the peas, and dislodge them.

I have the excellent testimony of Miss Farrell of Ballibrado, county of Tipperary, to the fact of these birds breaking sound nuts with their bills, a feat frequently observed by this lady. Mr. Poole, too, remarks that they "seem to derive considerable proportion of their autumn subsistence from the kernels of hazel-nuts. They may be heard at that season in every direction in a wood, hammering the nuts on the branches of the trees to break them, a difficult operation it would appear from the incessant labour necessary for the purpose." Mr. C. R. Bree of Stowmarket, has remarked of the blue tit (I presume), which is much less than the present species:-"I have frequently seen the tomtit, which is a much smaller bird, with an infinitely more delicate beak than the nut-hatch, break the stones of the yew-berry and the haw. He carries the stone on to a convenient branch, where he fixes it with his claws, and then makes repeated and quick strokes upon it with his beak, exactly as 'Sutor' has described, like the hammer of a blacksmith. * * * The bird makes by repeated strokes a small hole in the stone, with the fine sharp point of its beak which then acts as a wedge, and the resistance is easily overcome." I have myself remarked the blue tit drive its bill like a pick-axe into a rotten portion of a tree, thus reminding me of a woodpecker.

*

* Gardener's Chronicle, July 18th, 1846, p. 480.

THE BLUE TIT.
Bluebonnet. Tomtit.

Parus cæruleus, Linn.

Is very common; more so than any other of the genus, in the island.

Irs lively and varied attitudes, as observed in the ordinary places of resort, have often been described. In addition to the more common haunts, this bird is met with as far up the sides of the mountain glens as there is a little underwood for shelter. It feeds pretty much on the highways, and occasionally builds in the walls of town gardens. In winter, whether mild or otherwise, this species is very partial to the reeds (Arundo phragmitis) fringing the river Lagan near Belfast, where I have often been much interested in observing numbers of them. The force of one coming against a dead reed sways it almost to the surface of the water, in which the base is immersed, but the titmouse nevertheless maintains its hold; then hurrying to another, alights near its base and rapidly runs up the stem to near the top, and almost dips in the river again: the graceful bend of the reed adds much to the beauty of such a

scene.

These birds are known to suffer considerably from the cold of winter, to which they are very sensible, even when kept in the house. One at "the Falls," when let out of the cage in summer, roosted upon the top: but in winter, although in a warm room, selected the hottest place in which it could remain safely for the night, namely, under the fender, a locality which afforded at the same time sufficient space and shelter. This bird, from its familiarity and vivacity, was most amusing. The cage was covered with close netting, which it several times cut through, thereby effecting its escape into the room. It then flew to the children, and having taken hold of a piece of bread or cake in the hand of the youngest, would not forego the object of attack, though shaken with the greatest force the child could exert; indeed, the latter was so persecuted on one occasion for a piece of apple, that she ran crying out of the apartment. It was particularly fond of

sugar. Confined in the same cage with this bird were some other species, and among them a redbreast, which it sometimes annoyed so much as to bring upon its head severe chastisement. A favourite trick was to pull the feathers out of its fellow prisoners. The young willow wren already alluded to was sadly tormented in this way. A similar attempt was even made on a song thrush introduced to its domicile, but it was successfully repelled. This mischievous tit escaped out of doors several times, but always returned without being sought for.

The blue titmouse, as is well known, sometimes chooses singular places for its nest. An ornamental jar in the green-house at Elm Park, near Dublin, was selected in the spring of 1844, though the aperture through which the birds had to pass, to reach its roomy portion, seemed hardly large enough to admit them; they flew into and out of the jar, regardless of persons being present.

Mr. Poole too remarks: "A jar which I placed in a horizontal position on my window-stool was in a few days tenanted by a pair of blue tits, who after cleaning out some rubbish of which they did not approve, have set hard to work to manufacture a snug abode for themselves and progeny. The cock blue tit came one morning to feed the hen with a fly at a time, when she had a bunch of materials for her nest in her mouth. She quickly dropped them, however, and received the proffered morsel with every appearance of gratification at her mate's gallant attention. May 1st: the blue tits at my window-stool are very early risers, indeed generally commencing the labours of the day as soon as light sets in, and consequently long before the sun appears. The cock at first paid little attention to his mate in her labours, farther than by holding himself ready and willing for a fight with any strange birds of his own species that might venture too near his sanctuary -at the commencement another pair used frequently to contest possession — but eventually was very assiduous in feeding her. He came frequently at intervals of half a minute with a fly or caterpillar, and inserting his head at the neck of the jar delivered it to his patient mate.

"In the breeding season I have frequently seen blue tits

striking against the panes of windows, I conclude, in jealous defiance of their own reflections. The pair which built in a jar at my window, after buffeting the unconscious glass for a long time, seemed to gain no wisdom by experience, and, until the hen began to sit, continued as busy at it as ever. The hen indeed seemed chief performer."

The blue titmouse is ready for a fight with more than its own species. A gentleman of my acquaintance states of a pair, which built for three years successively in a fruit tree close to the house in which he lived, that when any persons went near the nest, the bird flew to a neighbouring branch, and not only pecked boldly at them, but would not permit them to drive it away. A pair of these birds built inside a pump, which had not been used for some time, at Abbeylands, near Belfast. The first indication of the circumstance, unfortunately, was the nest and young being ejected into the air, when the pump was again put in requisition. Notwithstanding this misfortune they built again in the same place, and as their so doing was in this instance known, the pump was not used until the brood was safely reared. At a place not two miles distant, the following circumstance, communicated by Mr. Robert Patterson, occurred:-" Having gone one day to dine with a friend living at Ringsend Point, he enquired, did I ever know a bird's nest to be made, and the eggs laid within an hour? On my answering in the expected negative, he told me there was a well from which water for the use of the family was drawn, and a pump, which being what is called "down," was somewhat troublesome to work, but which yielded excellent water for drinking. Going into his parlour on this day before dinner time, the gentleman happened to taste some of the water which had been placed on the side-board, and instantly accused the servant of having drawn it from the well, and not from the pump. The man denied the charge, alleging that it had been pumped up by himself only half an hour before. He was desired to go and pump some more, and his master went with him to see it done. At the first stroke up came little particles of straw, and muddy looking water, and next followed a bird's nest with three eggs!