Volume 24, Plate IX / Ornithology (Birds)

Blue Titmouse

Parus cæruleus

The Blue Titmouse is a common, cheerful, fearless little bird found wherever wood or hedgerow timber grows, frequenting gardens and farmyards, with white cheeks and forehead set within an azure collar, the crown Berlin blue, back greyish green, and underparts sulphur yellow with a dark central streak. It feeds on insects, grains, kernels, and beech mast, breeds in holes laying six to nine pinky white eggs spotted rufous, and defends its nest fiercely.