TITS, WRENS, WAGTAILS, SHRIKES, ETC. 



391 



and I\Ir. J. Dewhurst, of Noiili Kensington, 

 London, and other fanciers whom wo know. 

 have had a like experience. Certainly it is the 

 most valiialik' of tlie family as an exhibition 

 bird, and is usually successful. 



The Long-tailed Tit has little or no song 

 beyond its well-known notes, "' ;;(-(// " and a 

 hoarse, croaking, churring-like note peculiar lo 

 itself. The nest is not built in a hole like those 

 of the other Tits, and besides being large in 

 proportion to the size of its builder, is a most 

 wonderful piece of architecture. It is a domed 

 structure of moss, heavily lined with soft feathers, 

 and the tiny entrance to it is arranged at the 

 side near the top. A variety of places are 

 selected for the nest — sometimes a thorn hedge 

 — or else it it is woven among the liranches of 

 an evergreen. We have one in our possession 

 built on the thick bough of an apple tree, the 

 sides of which are securely interwoven with the 

 little shoots on the bough, and the similarity in 

 the colour of the moss and silver lichen with 

 its covering of s])ider web, is so perfect that the 

 nest appears like a clump grown out on the 

 bough. 



At liberty, the Long-tailed Tit's food consists 

 chiefly of insects, which are searched for dili- 

 gently on trees, hedgerows, and shrubberies. 

 In captivity, the staple food recommended for 

 the Wood Warbler answers well for these birds ; 

 but at all seasons a little live food in some form 

 or other is most beneficial. During the summer 

 months live ants' cocoons and even a few of the 

 insects themselves, disabled before being put 

 into the cage, are welcome tit-bits. In the 

 winter a few live gentles will act as a substi- 

 tute, and dried ants' cocoons by way of a 

 change may be given, swollen to the uoimal 

 size by steaming over boiling water. These 

 birds are liest kept in a roomy, box-shaped cage, 

 all wood, with a wire front, for if placed in one 

 with a wire roof they run along the wires like 

 mice and are liable to damage their plumage. 

 Show cages similar to those recommended for 

 the smaller Warblers answer well to exhibit this 

 Tit in ; but instead of the usual perches, a 

 small branch of a fir or other tree, with numer- 

 ous little ofT-shoots, should be arranged in a 

 slanting position towards the roof. This is 

 much better than the ordinary perches. The 

 cage should be a little more lofty than for the 

 Warblers, say 15 inches high. Good health, 

 perfect plumage, full of life, yet perfectly steady, 

 are all conducive to success with this Iiird at 

 exhibitions. 



The Great Tit. Parus major(Linn.). is widely 

 distributed, and is a regular visitor to town 

 gardens in winter, when it usually associates 

 in small groups. These groups appear to 

 have regular beats, for day after day we have 



observed them busy in the trees in the garden, 



moving off in the morning in a westerly direc- 



_, ^ tion from garden to garden, 



The Great ^ , 



~. exanunuig every tree, and re- 



turning by the same route in 

 the evening just Ijefore dark, attracting us by 

 their well-known shrill but sweetly musical call, 

 which is repeated several times. 



The largest of its tribe, the Great Tit. is a 

 very striking bird, owing to its distinct colours 

 and the marked contrast which they display. 

 The forehead, crown, throat, and a narrow band 

 encircling the am-iculars are deep, glossy, 

 steel-bluish black; the black of the throat 

 extends in a mesial line upon the breast and 

 abdomen, expanding on the centre of the 

 abdomen and there forming a broad patch. 

 The steel-blue lustre of the head docs not 

 appear on tliese parts ; the cheeks and auri- 

 cular feathers are pure white, forming a tri- 

 angular spot, which is very conspicuous from 

 its contrast with the surrounding colours. 

 The back of the neck and back are olive-green, 

 of a paler and clearer tint on the nape, and 

 becoming nearly white where it joins the black 

 hood ; on the rump and tail coverts it spreads 

 into bluish-grey. The breast, abdomen, and 

 flanks, with the exception of the black mesial 

 line, are sulplnu--yellow ; the vent white ; the 

 shoulders, ouler edges of lesser coverts and 

 quills, bluish-grey, giving that tint to the win.g, 

 when closed, which is relieved by a yellowish- 

 white band formed by the tips of the lesser 

 coverts, which are tinted with that colour. 

 The secondaries are black, the outer web 

 broadly edged with yellowish-green ; the tail 

 is black, and the outer web edged with bluish- 

 grey ; the tips and exterior web of the outer 

 feathers are pure white. The female is similar 

 to the male, except that the black streak down 

 the centre of the abdonu'U is narrower and 

 duller in colour. 



Like the rest of its tribe, the Great Tit has 

 great activity and vivacity ; when wild, it hops 

 from branch to branch and clings to the trees 

 which it examines most minutely in search of 

 any insects or larvae that nmy be secreted in the 

 leaves or bark. It has, however, a reputation 

 for being extremely dangerous if placed in an 

 aviary with other small birds, being credited 

 with having killed its neighbours by repeated 

 blows of its hard bill on the head of the victim, 

 whose brains are thereupon picked out and 

 eaten. If reared as recommended for young 

 Wheatears, from the nest by hand, however, 

 these birds may be turned into the aviary with 

 comparative safety. An aviary of Titmice is 

 one of the most interesting of any, because of the 

 beauty, diminutive size, and unflagging vivacity 

 of the birds; and if given plenty of perches, or, 



