COAL-TITMOUSE. 491 



not very musical, are yet to be deemed a song, ceasing as soon 

 as the young are hatched. The nest is phiced in the crevice 

 of a wall, or more frequently in the hole of a rotten stump 

 which the birds often excavate for themselves, generally 

 choosing a place near, or even below, the surface of the 

 ground, and Selby says he has found it in the entrance of a 

 mole's or a mouse's burrow.* It is built of moss, mixed with 

 wool and hair felted together — rabbits' fur being very com- 

 monly used, and feathers are said to be sometimes added. 

 The eggs measure from '62 to '56 by from -47 to "44 in., and 

 are from six to eight in number, white, spotted or speckled, 

 but seldom blotched, with light red — the markings being 

 somewhat larger than those on the eggs of the Blue Tit- 

 mouse. 



The Coal-Titmouse seems to be more common in England 

 now than formerly. Both Montagu and Selby agree in 

 saying that according to their experience it was less numer- 

 ous than the Marsh-Titmouse, next to be described, whereas 

 the contrary is certainly the case at the present day, and 

 there is no evidence of the latter having grown scarcer in 

 England. In Scotland, Sir William Jardine, writing in 

 1839, said that it had become the most abundant species of 

 the tribe, or was seen, at least in winter, in greater profusion 

 than any other, though ten or twelve years before it was by 

 no means common. Its increase he ascribed, and no doubt 

 truly, to the increase of plantations which were rapidly 

 advancing to maturity. It breeds in every county of Great 

 Britain as far as Sutherland, and in the autumn of 1862 was 

 observed, apparently for the first time, in Caithness. It 

 seems to be common in suitable localities throughout Ireland, 

 but before tracing its range beyond the limits of the United 

 Kingdom some remarks are necessary. 



The thoroughness with which Messrs. Dresser and Sharpe 

 have lately been investigating the ornithology of Europe has 

 led them to detect a difference, easily seen when pointed out, 



* Mr. TSond once found a nest on the branch of a fir, close to the bole, very 

 like that of a Longtailed Titmouse, but much rounder (Zool. p. 7444). 



