CHAPTER XXI 



THE LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE 



Or " titimouse," as the fenmen call this moth-like bird, always 

 associates itself in my mind with the humming-bird. Any 

 one who has seen a living gem of a humming-bird hovering 

 moth-hke about the trumpet-shaped flowers of a plantain or 

 banana-tree in the tropics, cannot fail to compare it to the 

 hovering of a long-tailed titmouse about an ivy-covered tree 

 in summer-time when in search of insects. Moreover, the 

 face of the bird resembles that of a large moth in its round- 

 ness, beady eyes, texture, and general expression. Alto- 

 gether he is an artistic creature in form and colouring as 

 well as in habits, for he builds one of the deftest and most 

 beautiful of all bird's nests. The silvery lichen-covered home, 

 woven amid a large branch of ivy, or in some scaly-barked 

 gorse bush, is a little masterpiece, although perhaps rather 

 inconvenient for the mother, who has to sit with her long 

 tail folded over her back, her feathers resembling a Spanish 

 mantilla over her little head as you peer into the nest. 



Though by no means common in the Broadland, the long- 

 tailed tit is not rare, and often builds there, generally return- 

 ing to the same neighbourhood to nest year after year. I 

 know of one garden abutting on a Broad where a pair have 

 nested in the ivy round an old elm-tree for several years, 

 laying their dozen or sixteen eggs regularly. And there on a 

 fine warm day in July you may see the young birds flying 

 about the trees looking for insects, and calling to each other 

 with their childish zvee, wee, wee ; and later, when the reed 

 is ripe, they frequent in flocks the tall trees by the river, 



