214 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE BKITISH LONG-TAILED TIT. 



{Acredula rosea.)* 



Plate 53, Fig. 19. 



The British form of the Long-tailed Tit is found in France, 

 Western Germany, Northern Italy, and some parts of Turkey, 

 and apparently interbreeds with the Continental form A. caudata, 

 which differs from it in the adult bird having a pure white head. 

 The latter form ranges throughout Northern and Central Europe 

 between the Arctic circle and the Alps, its range extending east- 

 wards through Southern Siberia to the Pacific. This white- 

 headed form sometimes migrates to Great Britain. 



The nest is oval in shape ; and a small hole in the side near 

 the top admits the parent birds. The materials that compose it 

 are very similar to those used by the Chaffinch — the greenest 

 moss, lichens, and cobwebs all felted artfully together, and lined 

 with an immense number of feathers and hairs. The nest of 

 this bird is undoubtedly the finest piece of bird-architecture 

 found in our islands. 



The eggs vary considerably in number. Some nests only con- 

 tain six eggs, whilst others may be found with eleven, and in rare 

 instances as many as sixteen and twenty have been known. They 

 are pure white or pearly-grey in ground-colour, with a few small 

 spots of light-red, and fainter marks of purple, although many 

 specimens are spotless or appear to have the scanty colouring- 

 matter delicately suffused over the entire surface ; sometimes 

 they are without any trace of markings. They measure from 

 063 to 052 inch in length, and from 0'48 to 04 inch in breadth. 

 The eggs of this bird are less spotted than those of any other 

 Tit. 



THE BEABDED TIT. 

 (Panurus biarmicus.) 



Plate 53, Fig. 20. 



The Bearded Tit is still found in a few districts in Norfolk. 

 On the Continent the range of the species is an extensive one ; 

 but it has not been recorded south of the Mediterranean or north 

 of Pomerania. 



* Acredula caudata — Saunders, Manual, p. 93. /Egithalus vagans — Sharpe, 

 Handb., I., p. 147. 



