6o HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



out the summer ("A Story of Nuthatches," Field, 

 Oct. 4, 1873). 



This bird does not invariably nest in the hole of 

 a tree, bank, or wall, but occasionally builds a nest. 

 See F. Bond's account, with illustration, of nest 

 built in a haystack at East Grinstead {Field, Oct. 

 28, 1871, and Zool, 1871, p. 2850). Two pairs were 

 found nesting in a sandbank at Farncombe, Surrey 

 {Zool., 1888, p. 309), and another pair in the old 

 nest of a magpie, lining it with mud, leaving an 

 aperture on one side (Field, May 13, 1893). 



The Scandinavian Nuthatch described by Linnaeus 

 as Sitta europwa (Syst. Nat., i. p. 177) differs from 

 that found in Great Britain ; and the latter, there- 

 fore, should be distinguished as Sitta csesia, that 

 being the oldest name applied (by Meyer, " Taschenb. 

 Deutsch. Vogel," i. p. 128) to the same species as 

 observed in Germany. 



Fam. PARIDiE. 



GREAT TITMOUSE. Parus major, Linnseus. PI. 9, 

 figs. 1, la,. Length, 5*5 in. ; wing, 3 in. ; tarsus, '75 in. 



Resident, generally distributed, and common. 

 As to its alleged destruction of honey - bees, see 

 Zoologist, 1876, p. 4873, and Field, January 1890. 



BLUE TITMOUSE. Parus OBruleus, Linneeus. PI. 9, 

 fig. 2. Length, 4*5 in.; wing, 2'5 in. ; tarsus, -65 in. 



Resident, generally distributed, and common. 

 The most characteristic traits in its life-history are 



