456 MECISTURA LONGICAUDATA. 



its claw /g ; second toe /g, its claw j\ ; third toe j%, its 

 claw j% ; fourth toe ~^^, its claw -^l. 



Female. — The female is similar to the male, but has the 

 secondaries greyish-brown, the black band on the side of the 

 neck broader, and the feathers on the fore-neck with light 

 brown streaks. 



Changes. — The plumage being complete in November is as 

 described above. In summer the white is purer, and the wings 

 more brown. In the end of spring the fleshy margins of the 

 eyelids are bright red. 



Habits. — How pleasant it is to gaze upon these little creatures 

 streaming along the tops of the tall trees by the margin of the 

 brook, ever in motion, searching the twigs with care, and cheep- 

 ing their shrill notes as they scamper away, one after another ! 

 The flight of the Mufflin, not inaptly named, as its tufty 

 plumage makes it look as if mufiled to the chin, is undulated 

 and rather rapid, when extended to a distance, but is not exe- 

 cuted with such speed as to justify, on that account alone, the 

 comparison which has been made of this bird when flying, to 

 an arrow or a dart. It is the long tail that suggests the idea 

 of a shaft, while the body and wings resemble the barbed head 

 of the arrow. The Wagtails, whose flight is more elegant 

 and rapid, present a similar appearance. Its shorter flights 

 from tree to tree are hurried and fluttering, like those of the 

 Tits ; and its notes bear some resemblance to those of the Blue 

 Tit, but are shriller and louder. Frequently it is found asso- 

 ciating with the Coal Tit and the Kinglet, and occasionally 

 with the Blue and Greater Tits ; but I have fully as often met 

 with it in flocks of about a dozen, searching the twigs, without 

 companions. It is easily shot, although somewhat more ob- 

 servant than the Tits, or perhaps more capricious, as it flits 

 about with great celerity, and clings to the branches in every 

 kind of posture. Its food consists of small insects, pupae, and 

 larvae, for which it searches trees of all kinds, apparently with- 

 out preference, it not being so partial to the Coniferae as the 



