The Long-tailed Tit.



195



by ordinary means. On the wing the Little Bustard appears to me

more like a great grouse or black game.


To the previous list must now be added as inhabiting the

environs of Doiran Lake :


Cirl Bunting, Meadow Bunting, Common Sparrow, Tree

Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Quail, Water Rail, Spotted Crake, Sand¬

piper, Curlew, Whimbrel, Common Starling, Purple Starling, and

Jay.


The vernal migration has begun, Geese are Hying north in

great numbers, no longer halting by the Lake, but crossing the

Belasitza mountains, and Green Plover, Crows, Jackdaws, and

Starlings are following in their wake. Quite a number of Bitterns

have arrived and apparently are preparing to nest, as are also the

Black Vultures. Partridges have paired everywhere, also Cormo¬

rants, Owls, and Harriers. The shotgun will have to cede its place

to the blowpipe! W. D. M. (“ X. )



THE LONG-TAILED TIT l Acred ala caudate).


By P. F. M. Galloway.


This species is fairly plentiful and can be seen during any

country walk.


These birds keep in flocks during the autumn and winter

months, sometimes as many as fifteen to twenty in a flock, but by

the middle of March they break off into pairs and begin to build

almost at once.


I have often found the nest commenced by the 25th of the


month.


They do not select any particular building site for the nest;

sometimes it is built in a hawthorn bush, or a hedge, a holly bush,

wild honeysuckle, in the fork of a tall ash or oak tree, or in a furze

bush.


• The nest is the most beautiful I think of any of our native

birds.


Last year I stood only six feet from a nest which was being

built in a branch of furze on a common near here and watched the



