THE common Titmouse or Tom-tit is a very small bird, only four inches and a half in length. He has a blue head, with white cheeks and a white stripe over each eye; his back is greenish, his wings and tail blue, and the lower surface of his body yellow. This bird, and all the species related to it, live on insects, as well as on seeds. When kept in a cage, it is really amusing to see with what quickness the Titmouse darts at any fly or moth which comes imprudently within its reach. If this kind of food be deficient, as generally happens in winter, it feeds upon several kinds of seed, and particularly that of the sunflower, which it dexterously holds upright between its claws and strikes powerfully with its sharp little bill, till the black covering splits, and yields its white contents to the persevering bird. Its general food consists of insects, which it seeks in the crevices of the bark of trees, and when thus engaged, clinging in every possible position to the branches, it looks like a very diminutive blue parrot. In winter the Titmouse visits our gardens and orchards, where he is often seen picking the buds of fruit trees to pieces; but in doing this he inflicts little or no injury upon the gardener, his object being the capture of insects which would probably cause far more mischief in the ensuing summer. The nest of the Titmouse is built in the hole of a tree or wall; the female lays usually eight or ten eggs, and when sitting defends her nest with great courage, pecking at the fingers of boys so vigorously that in some parts of the country she is known by the name of Billy Biter. The _Long-tailed Tit_ is also a common bird about hedges, orchards, and plantations. He is an active lively little fellow, and resembles the common Tit in his habits. [Illustration: THE YELLOWHAMMER, OR YELLOW BUNTING. (_Emberiza citrinella._)] THIS bird is somewhat larger than the sparrow. Its head is of a greenish yellow, spotted with brown; the throat and belly are yellow; the breast and sides, under the wings, mingled with red. These birds build their nests on the ground, near some bush, where the female lays five or six eggs. The Yellowhammer may be sometimes seen perched on the finger of some poor man or woman in the streets of London, in a state of complete tameness; but this is the transitory effect of intoxication, and soon after the bird is bought and brought home, it dies, overcome by the power of the laudanum that has been given it. This bird feeds on seeds and various sorts of insects, and is common in every lane, on every hedge, throughout the country, flitting before the traveller, and about the bushes. Happily for him, we have not yet acquired the taste of the natives of Italy, where the Yellowhammer falls a daily victim to the delicacy of the table, and where its flesh is esteemed very delicious eating. There he is often fattened, for the purpose of gratifying the palate of epicures.