200 Habits and Peculiarities 



But, if the bottletit is to be classed with these birds in the 

 same minimum division, it must be an exception to every attempt 

 at generalisation. It is not omnivorous, but subsists wholly 

 upon insect food ; during the winter, chiefly on small Coleop- 

 tera, which it finds about the twigs and branches of trees. It 

 has not the slightest notion of holding its food with the foot, so 

 conspicuous a habit in the Pari. On giving one, in confine- 

 ment, a large spider's nest, it was evidently at a loss to know 

 how to pull out the eggs ; tried to nibble out a small portion, 

 and laid the remainder beside it on the perch, but was unsuc- 

 cessful ; and, on my returning to look at it after a few minutes' 

 absence, it was still found carrying it about in the bill ; but, on 

 fastening it to a perch, it was demolished in an instant. A tit 

 would not have experienced a moment's difficulty. It has no 

 idea of hiding its superfluities of food ; which, indeed, could 

 hardly be expected, seeing that it is exclusively insectivorous. 

 Its bill is of a slightly arcuated form, the upper mandible 

 curving a little over the under ; consequently, it could not be 

 used for breaking the hard husks of seeds, in the manner 

 already detailed in which the tits employ this instrument. It 

 does not nidificate in holes, but constructs a very beautiful 

 and peculiar domed nest, affixed to a furcate bough, or to 

 a few contiguous stems in the centre of a tall and dense ever- 

 green ; neither does it roost in holes, like the Pari, but retires 

 to the horizontal branch of some thick evergreen (a holly or 

 spruce fir), where the family roost together in a line, returning 

 every evening to the same situation. It is seldom noticed 

 about human abodes, because the attractions which draw the 

 tits to such places have no influence upon its appetite ; and, 

 lastly, though social with its own species, its gregariousness 

 is of a different cast from that of the various species of Parus : 

 the latter will fly in company with any small bird of similar 

 habits; and it is not unusual to find all the species in the same 

 troop, accompanied, perhaps, with a number of kinglets, and 

 often one or two wrens, or treecreepers. All these will, indeed, 

 commonly join in with a troop of bottletits ; but the latter do 

 not court their society; and, not unfrequently, it will be observed 

 that they very soon part company, the mufflins striking off in 

 a different direction from the main body. The tits breed 

 more than once in the season ; the other only once ; and the 

 whole family of the latter remain together till the return of 

 spring, which is not the case with the Pari. Sometimes it 

 happens that two or three families of the bottletit unite in 

 the course of their day's ramble, forming an endlessly long 

 succession of them from tree to tree ; but at night they are 

 sure to separate, and each retires to its own roosting place. 



