TITMICE 6 1 



its destructiveness to fruit, especially pears, and its 

 partiality for nesting in odd places, such as a pump, 

 letter-box, lamp, or an inverted empty flower-pot, it 

 being the habit of all Tits to nest in holes, generally 

 in decayed trees. 



CRESTED TITMOUSE. Pams cristatus, Linn^us. PI. 

 9, fig. 5. Length, 4*5 in. ; wing, 2-5 in. ; tarsus, 75 in. 



Resident in Moray, Ross, Inverness, Elgin, and 

 Banff (where I have seen it in the beautiful woods 

 bordering the Spey), and in Aberdeenshire. The 

 hen bird has a shorter crest and less black on 

 the throat. For a note on its habits as observed 

 in Scotland, see Saxby, ZooL, 1862, p. 7998. 

 In regard to England, there are a few scattered 

 records of its occurrence in Durham, Cumberland, 

 Yorkshire (confirmed Zool, 1872, p. 3021), Suffolk, 

 Middlesex, and Hampshire where it has once been 

 obtained in the New Forest. Its appearance so far 

 south, however, must be regarded as purely acci- 

 dental (see Gurney, Zool., 1890, p. 210), although 

 it is to be found in parts of France, and throughout 

 Spain, where it is common in the cork woods. 



COAL TITMOUSE. Parus ater, Linn^us. PI. 9, fig. 3. 

 Length, 4-25 in.; wing, 2*4 in.; tarsus, "65 in. 



Resident and generally distributed. The British 

 form has been distinguished from the Continental 

 species under the name Parus hritannicus (Sharpe 

 and Dresser, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, viii. p. 

 437), but so many intermediate links occur between 



