TOMTIT ARCHITECTURE.
To THE EDITOR or THE " Brscrwron."1 SIR,—Your correspondent's tomtit nesting letter, in the Spec- tator of May 27th, was most interesting. But the problem in gymnastics to be solved by the young tits is only apparently a. difficult one, inasmuch as it has been solved by the parent birds. Your correspondent's conception of the difficulty is the result of his evident forgetfulness of the fact that young birds are not. so stupid or so incomplete as young babies. The titmice will get out of the hole of the inverted flower-pot in exactly the same way as their parents do. But in our rectory garden just now we have a still more curious problem in tit architecture. A pair of great tits have built their nests in the iron chimney of a disused greenhouse-stove. The pipe is perpendicular, of 3 in. diameter, and is about 12 ft. long. The nest is con- structed about 6 ft. down. There are eight young birds, nearly ready to—(P) fly, climb, be carried, washed down—how get out ? What will your correspondent suggest ?
By-the-way, why will people speak of tam-tits ? There are great-tits, blue-tits, cole-tits, longtailed-tits, marsh-tits, created-tits ! But what is a tomtit P—I am, Sir, Sm.,
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