PARUS MAJOR , IAnn.
Great Tit.
Pams major, Linn. Faun. Suec.,p. 96.
jnngillago, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat, tom. i. p. 556.
robustus, Brehm, Vög. Deutsch!., p. 461.
T he Parus major ,s the largest species of T it inhabiting the British Islands, and is so generally dispersed over
all parts o f the three Kingdoms that it mnst he regarded as indigenous and very common everywhere therein
On the continent o f Europe it appears to be as universally spread as with us ; for if we look into Magnus
von Wright’s ‘ B irds o f Finland,' Bailly’s ‘ Ornithology o f Savoy,’ Loche’s ‘ List of the Birds of Algeria,’
Salvin's 'F iv e Months’ Birds’-nesting in the Eastern Atlas,’ or Tristram’s ‘ List o f the Birds observed in
Palestine,’ we find it enumerated in every one of them ; the late Mr. John Wolley obtained a specimen at
Muoniovara, in Swedish Lapland; and I have a skin from Erzeroum, in Persia. Still these wide-spread
localities mnst be regarded as the outer circle o f its range of h abitat; for I have never seen an example from
any country south of the Equator in Africa, or to the eastward of Persia ; it certainly is not found in In d ia ;
at least I have never seen specimens even from the western parts o f that country, where it would occur if
at all; and it is scarcely necessary to say that it does not inhabit America, neither has it any immediate
representative therein, as it has in the Himalayas and China, countries abounding, in species very similar to
it in structure, size, and colour, among which I may mention Parus minor and P. monticolus, and the three
crested species figured in my ‘ Birds of Asia ’ as P. xunthogenys, P . spilotwius, and P.jerdoni.
T h a t the g reat T it is a spirited, cheerful, sprightly bird is known to every person who haslived in the country,
all of whom must have observed its richly-coloured tints as it pried about their gardens, and have heard its loud,
metallic, ringing voice while walking in the wood or beside the coppice-hedge. Some people liken the spring
notes of the bird to the sharpening of a saw, while others state that it resembles the words “ sit-ye-doivn,"
“ ox-eye," &c. The truth is, that sounds uttered by birds strike the ear so differently that what would be
music to one person is discordance to another. Many o f my readers have doubtless sauntered quietly and
alone through the woods during the stillness of a hot summer’s day, o r have waited by the coppice-side
for the approach o f the heaters during the autumnal season of sport. If they have, they must frequently have
heard a little tapping noise overhead, or at a short distance among the trees, and may have supposed it to
be the sound made by the Woodpecker or the Nuthatch. But it does not always proceed from the latter, and
very seldom from the former; it is mostly made by the Great Tit hammering away to obtain the kernel of a
nut it has placed in a chink, o r a stone o f the wild cherry which it holds firmly within its claws with the
same end and object to secure the contents within. Many sounds not universally known are heard in the
stillness of the forest; and the tapping of the Great Tit is one of them. The Rev. Mr. Morris gives it as
his opinion that “ the provincial name o f ‘ Oxe-eye’ given to this species has no reference to a derivation
from ‘ glaucopis Athene,’ but has been assigned to it from its note, which in the spring resembles this word
often repeated a low and high note in succession ; and it has also, in addition to a chatter, another, which
resembles the word ‘ twink. I know no bird whose voice, though monotonous, is more cheerful and exhilarating
in connexion with the returning spring. It begins its merry ‘ Ox-eye, ox-eye, ox-eye,' about the
beginning o f March, and continues it till the beginning of May." “ It has, however,” says Mr. Thompson,
“ been heard as early as the 23rd and 24th of December, the 5th and the end o f January, when at the latter
date there was ice an inch thick on the ponds. I t is so loud that it may be heard a t the distance o f half
a mile.”
In many respects the actions and habits of the Great T it offer a striking resemblance to those o f the
Jay—a fact which has been noticed by most writers; and so strongly are some persons impressed thereby
that the sight o f one vividly calls to mind the other. The activity which both birds display among the
branches of the trees, the peculiar carriage o f the tail, their prying inquisitive manners, the retraction of
the head, their mode o f feeding, and the nature o f the substances upon which they subsist are strikingly
alike. Their alliance, however, is more fanciful than r e a l; for the colouring of their plumage, their size, and
the number and colour of their eggs are very different.
The G reat T it is said to be no friend to the gardener, and is charged with destroying the buds of trees
and with picking holes in the ripening fruit. I believe the first of these accusations to be untrue, and
that, unlike the Bullfinch, which really does eat the buds of trees, the. Great T it attacks those only
that are infested with insects and their larvae, and consequently does effect an incomparable amount of
good. With regard to its other propensities, that of killing bees &c., I must be silent, if I wish as