THE PERCHING BIRDS. 151 



The Long-tailed Tit, often confused with a closely allied 

 Continental species that is but a rare wanderer to these 

 Long-tailed islands, has the smallest body and proportion- 

 "^i*- ately longest tail of the group. It is further 



distinguished through the glasses by the white on its 

 crown, together with the broad white margin (and outer 

 tips) of the tail. The bird occurs throughout these islands, 

 and its food consists of insects and seeds. The flask-shaped 

 nest, from the appearance of which the bird is widely 

 knowTi by the name of "Bottle-tit," is finished, as a rule, 

 by the first week in April. They had eggs in them in 

 the ]^ew Forest this year (1897) on the 12th of that month. 

 It is of moss, lined with feathers, and is placed in high 

 bushes or in the lower forks of trees ; it is also large for 

 the size of its occupant, and has but one opening. Eggs, 

 7 to 12, ^2 inch; white, w^ith or (more rarely) without 

 reddish spots and lines. The bird will sit close, her tail 

 projecting from the opening, until the intruder is right 

 upon her, when she flies off without a sound. 



Continental Long-tailed Tit. — A rare straggler from 

 Northern Europe, distinguished by the absence of black 

 from the head. 



The Great Tit may be distinguished from the rest by its 

 superior size, the white cheeks, and the black stripe down 

 the breast ; and the species is common in 

 most parts of these islands. Though, like 

 most of the rest, resident, strictly speaking, there is never- 

 theless a large autumn arrival from the Continent, and 

 probably, though less accurately recorded, a counter-de- 

 parture. The note of this bird is piercing. Though its 

 food consists for the most part of nuts, seeds, and insects, 

 which last it digs out of the tree after the manner of 

 woodpeckers, the great tit is known to attack small birds, 

 and bats too for that matter, for the sake of their brains. 

 In hard winters it will, with the rest of the family, ap- 

 proach our dwellings for such scraps as are available. 



