USE BY TITS OF NEST BOXES OF DIFFERENT DESIGNS IN PINEWOODS

Two experiments tested the preferences by tits in pinewoods for differ ent nest box designs. Great, Blue and Coal Tits preferred deep boxes ( approximate to 19 cm from base to entrance lip) over shallow ones (app roximate to 9 cm). Crested Tits preferred boxes that had been filled w ith sawdust and wood-shaving which they removed before nesting. The ex cavation of a fresh nest cavity each year perhaps ensures that nests a re free of fleas for Crested Tits.