144 Ll xi) ^ NATURAL HIST0R7 



conifer woods, the Crested Tit is likewise said to affect birch- 

 trees, and in winter to wander into plantations and gar 

 in some parts of the Continent it breeds in oak-trees, and in 

 the vicinity of Gibraltar in the cork-woods. 



Mr. Seebohm says that in the pine-woods of Arcachon, in 

 South-western France, it is the commonest bird, and is often 

 found in company with other Tits, Gold-Crests, Fire-Crests, 

 and Creepers. He says : " They are very active birds, flitting 

 from branch to branch, running over the pine-cones, in search 

 of insects ; and they seem to have taken a leaf out of the book 

 of their associates the Creepers, and may often be seen on the 

 trunks of the pines, where they search for insects in the 

 crevices of the bark. Sometimes they run up the stems of the 

 pines exactly as the Creepers do. It is not difficult to 

 recognise the Crested Tit on the wing. In the bright sun- 

 shine, which is such a distinguishing feature of the Arcachon 

 winters, the white edges of the black feathers of its head are 

 generally very conspicuous when flying, and often enough when 

 the little bird is hanging under a branch of a lofty pine, the 

 outline of its erected crest is easy to see against the sky. The 

 surest way, however, of detecting its presence is to listen to its 

 • note. The call note is a not very loud si, si, si, which seems to 

 be common to many of the Tits ; but this is often followed by 

 a spluttering note difficult to express on paper, which, as far as 

 I know, is peculiar to the Crested Tit. It is a lame attempt at 

 a trill, a sort of ptur, re, re, re, ree. The pine-trees in the 

 Arcachon forest are tapped for their resin. Three or four 

 longitudinal scores are made on the trunks ; and these are 

 lengthened as they dry up until they reach a considerable 

 height from the ground. When the tree gets old the weather 

 rots the part where the bark has been removed, and the trunk 

 swells out and cracks, and all kinds of convenient nooks and 

 crannies are formed, where Tits and other birds, who like such 

 situations for their nests, can breed. Some of these trees in the 

 old forests of La Teste attain a diameter of four and even five 

 feet ; and occasionally one comes across a fine old oak. The 

 Crested Tits seem, however, to prefer the pines ; and although 

 the GREAT and the Coal-Tits are very fond of searching lor 

 insects on the ground amongst the fallen oak-leaves, I have 

 never seen the Cresi ed Tit on the ground. In the pine-forests 



