207 



clerk ^ genera possess a much lessened power of 

 attaining to a like victory when their turn conies to 

 be assailed. 



(To be coiitiniLed) . 



By H. J. Fur.TjAMES. 

 (Contimied Jorm page 143;. 

 '•^/^t'hen I mentioned, at the commencement of 

 { ( I this article, that there were seven species of 

 VA-^ birds coming under my heading of Tit- 

 mice, it had escaped my memory that the 

 Crested Tit had been taken out of the list of British 

 birds drawn up by the N.B.B. & M.C., it having been 

 contended that the bird did not appear sufficiently 

 often in these islands to give much probability that 

 any exhibited specimen was other than a foreigner. 

 Of course, arguments on either side of the question 

 would be out of place in this paper, but I may at least 

 say that I should like to see the bird re-instated in 

 our list. The extreme shyness of the Crested Tit, so 

 much in contrast with the boldness of most of the 

 members of the family, is probably the reason of its 

 being so seldom observed. It does not breed either in 

 England or Ireland, indeed I believe that it has never 

 been seen at liberty in Ireland at all, and that the 

 recorded instances in England are very few, but in 

 the pine forests of the North of Scotland I have been 

 told that it is not nearly so rare as is generally sup- 

 posed. On the Continent it is a fairly common bird, 

 and it is undoubtedly the case that most of the Crested 

 Tits which have been seen at our bird shows have 

 had an assisted passage to our shores. I have not 

 found them long livers in captivity, but I am afraid 

 all my specimens have been imported birds which had 

 suffered considerably by the hardsliips of their travels 

 and subsequent bad treatment at the hands of the 



