442 PARUS ATER. 



Female. — The female does not differ from the male in any 

 very perceptible degree, and cannot be distinguished otherwise 

 than by dissection. 



Length to end of tail 4g: inches ; extent of wings 7/^. 



Changes. — When the plumage is new, towards the begin- 

 ning of winter, all the feathers of the back are tinged at the 

 tips with brownish-yellow ; but in summer when the tips are 

 worn that part is bluish-grey. At the former period the fea- 

 thers of the lower part of the fore-neck are tipped with white, 

 but at the latter they are of a uniform black. 



Habits. — The Coal Tit, partly on account of its diminutive 

 size, and partly from its haunts, is little apt to attract the no- 

 tice of the urban admirer of nature. It is seldom met with in 

 gardens, or in woods in the immediate vicinity of houses, al- 

 though I have several times seen it there, its favourite abode 

 being in forests and plantations of fir and pines, where it wan- 

 ders about in troops, often composed of a great number of in- 

 dividuals. In England it is not so abundant as the Blue Tit, 

 or even as the ISIarsh Tit ; but in Scotland, where the wild 

 woods and plantations are in many districts of vast extent, it is 

 much more numerous than either. Indeed, there is scarcely a fir 

 wood in any part of that country, in which it is not to be met 

 with. 



Not only is the Coal Tit a social bird with respect to its own 

 species, but its flocks are very rarely unmixed with individuals of 

 other species, especially the Long-tailed JNIufilin, and Blue Tit ; 

 and, having in all respects a great similarity in habits and pur- 

 suits to the Gold-crest, it very frequently associates with it. In 

 the pine forests on the Dee and the Spey, where very few birds 

 are met with, it is pleasant to follow a troop of these tiny crea- 

 tures, as they search the tree tops, spreading all round, flut- 

 tering and creeping among the branches, ever in motion, now 

 clinging to a twig in an inverted position, now hovering over a 

 tuft of leaves, picking in a crevice of the bark, searching all the 

 branches, sometimes visiting the lowermost, and again winding 

 among those at the very tops of the trees. In wandering among 

 these woods you are attracted by their shrill cheeping notes, 



