TODY 969 



it, is Acredula, containing that curious-looking bird the Long-tailed 

 or Bottle-Titmouse, with its many local races or species inhabiting 

 various parts of the Palfearctic area, which must be here passed 

 over without a word. The bird itself, having its tail longer than 

 its body, is unlike any other found in the northern hemisphere, 

 while its nest is a perfect marvel of construction, being in shape 

 nearly oval with a small hole in one side. The exterior is studded 

 with pieces of lichen, worked into a firm texture of moss, wool 



Parus. jEGITHALUS. 



(After Swainson.) 



and spiders' nests, and the inside is profusely lined with soft 

 feathers — 2379 having been, says Macgillivray, counted in one 

 example. Not inferior in beauty or ingenuity is the nest built by 

 the Penduline Titmouse, jEgithalus pendnlimis, of the south of 

 Europe, which differs, however, not merely in composition but in 

 being suspended to a bough, while the former is nearly always 

 i:)laced between two or more branches. 



The general affinities of the Paridiv seem to lie rather with the 

 Siffida} (Nuthatch, p. 647) and CertUidx (Tree-Creeper) ; and 

 those systematists who would ally them to the Laniidai (Shrike, 

 p. 84.3), or still more interpose the last between the former Families, 

 have yet to find grounds for so doing. 



II. The so-called "Bearded Titmouse," Panurus hiarmicus, has 

 habits wholly unlike those of any of the foregoing, and certainly does 

 not belong to the Family I'aridx, though its real affinity has not 

 yet been clearly shewn. It was formerly found in many parts of 

 England, especially in the eastern counties, where it bore the name 

 of Reed-Pheasant ; ^ but through the draining of meres, the 

 destruction of reed-beds, and (it must be added) the rapacity of 

 collectors, it now only exists as a native in a very few localities. 

 It is a beautiful little bird of a bright tawny colour, variegated 

 with black and white, while the cock is further distinguished by a 

 bluish-grey head and a black tuft of feathers on each side of the 

 chin. Its chief food seems to be the smaller kinds of freshwater 

 mollusks, which it finds among the reed-beds it seldom quits. 



TODY, Pennant's rendering in 1773 {Gen. B. p. 17) through the 



' The names given to this bird are so very inapplicable that it is almost a 

 jiity that "Silerella" (from siler, an osier) bestowed npon it by Sir T. Browne, 

 its discoverer {cf. Ray, Collection of English Words, London : 1674), cannot be 

 restored, though it is less a frequenter of willow -garths than of reed -beds 

 {cf. Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, i. pp. 511-522). 



