"Sixteen Canaries consumed at the average rate of one hundred grains each in twenty-four hours.
"The consumption of food by these birds, compared with the weight of their bodies, was about one-sixth; which, supposing a man to consume food in the same proportion to his weight, would amount to about twenty-five pounds for every twenty-four hours."
The nest, which is formed of moss and wool, lined with hair, is placed in a hole in a wall, or the hollow of a tree, or sometimes on the ground, in cavities among the exposed roots, at the mouth of some burrow. The eggs are from six to eight in number, and are white, spotted with pale red.
The BLUE TITS represent a group that have been separated from those mentioned above on account of the unusual shortness of their much-curved beak and the peculiar coloration of their plumage.
THE BLUE TIT.
The BLUE TIT (Parus cæruleus) is bluish green on the back, and blue on the head, wings, and tail, while the under side is yellow; a white line passes from the brow to the nape, and a narrow bluish black line divides the white cheeks from the dark head; the throat is encircled by a blue band; the quills are slate-black, the hinder ones sky-blue on the outer web and white at the tip; the tail-feathers are greyish blue. The eye is dark brown, the beak black, with white margins, and the foot lead-grey. The female is less beautifully coloured than her mate, and the young somewhat paler. This species is four inches and a half long and seven and a half broad; the wing measures two inches and a third, and the tail about two inches.
The Blue Tits are met with over a greater extent of country than any other member of their family. In Europe they are dispersed over the entire continent, from its most northern latitude to the extreme south; in Northern Africa and Eastern Asia they are replaced by a very similar species. In Great Britain, where they are extremely common, they frequent gardens, groves, or orchards, and have been popularly supposed to do considerable damage by pecking at the buds of fruit trees; it is much more likely, however, that these active little visitants to our orchards, when they seem thus employed, are busily engaged in rendering us an important service, by clearing off the insects and grubs that infest the blossoms sometimes in such large numbers as would seriously injure the crops. "This species," says Mudie, "is perhaps more incessant than any other bird in hunting the buds and branches of trees, especially of fruit trees near houses, for its insect prey; but it will eat any animal matter either in a recent or putrid state, and it appears to scent animal remains at a considerable distance, as it hovers about slaughter-houses, dog-kennels, and other places where there are scraps of carrion. It also haunts the neighbourhood of houses, and picks bones, eats bits of fat, or any refuse it can find, and, when opportunity favours, will even kill other birds by striking them on the head, and then picks their bones as clean as if they were cleared by the thousand inhabitants of an ant-hill. Dead birds are, of course, lawful prize, for which it searches under trees and hedges after severe weather. It is, in short, a very omnivorous bird, and plays the scavenger with equal diligence and grace. It is also very bold and familiar, and will alight among the poultry in the farm-yard or amid the dogs in the kennel; nor does it much heed the presence of people even under the trees upon which it is hunting." So strong is the liking of the Blue Tit for fat, that Gilbert White tells us that he has known as many as twenty caught in one morning with a common snap mouse-trap, baited with tallow or suet.
"When the Blue Tit," says Yarrell, "has taken possession of a hole in a wall or decayed tree, she is not readily induced to quit it, but defends her nest and eggs with great courage and perseverance, puffing out her feathers and hissing like an angry kitten; in some counties, indeed, she goes by the name of 'Billy Biter' among bird-nesting boys, from a vivid remembrance of certain impressions on their fingers. A female that had taken possession of a small wooden box hung up against an out-building, into which she had carried abundance of material for her nest, and in the midst of which she was then sitting upon her numerous eggs, allowed herself to be carried into a house for examination, and when the box was replaced in its former situation, did not desert her eggs, but hatched them and reared her young."