TRUE TITMICE. 



33 



and spotted, especially on the broader 'half of the egg, 

 ■with a kind of brownish brick red." 



" The nests of this si)ecies are very beautiful cups, 

 very compact and firm, sometimee wedged into a fork, 

 but more commonly siis|)ended between two or three 

 twigs, or sometimes attat-lied bv one side only to a single 

 twig. They are placed at hoights of from 4 to 10 

 feet from the ground in the branches of slender trees, 

 and are usually carefully concesUed, places completely 

 encircled by creepers being very frequeJitly chosen. 

 Th« chief materials of the neet are dead leaves, scune- 

 times tliose of the bamboo, but more generally those of 

 trees; but little of this is seen, as the exterior Is 

 generaMy coated with moss, and the inteiior is lined 

 first with excessively tine graf*, and then more or less 

 thinly -with black buffalo or horse hairs." 



An interesting article on this species, illustrated by 

 a coloured plate, appeared in The Avuullural Maga- 

 zine, 1st series. Vol. VIII., pp. 243-245, from the 

 pen of Mr. E. W. Harper, a gentleman to whom 

 English avicuJturists are andebted for a knowledge of 

 many of the rarer Indian birds. 



Mr. Harper regards the TAotrirhinw as more nearly 

 related to the Babblers than the Tits, and in this 

 opinion Mr. Finn agrees with him. I daresay they are 

 right, but I am following the order of the list of the 

 Zoological Society, which, rightly or wrongly, places 

 them -with the Tcts. 



True Titmice (Parvs). 



AzCKE Titmouse [I'arus cyaneus). 



Male — Head, tiroat and under parts generally snow- 

 white ; a deep blue streak from bill through eye to 

 naipe, joining a second broader streak from nape at 

 back of ear -coverts ; upper surface beautiful azure blue, 

 deepest on shoulders, middle of wings and tail ; clear 

 blue on middle of back and upper tail-coverts, tihe latter 

 feithers with white 'borders ; greater wing-coverts 

 white ; secondaries broadly white-tipped, primaries and 

 tail feathers externally white-edged ; a central dark 

 blue longitudinal streak down the breast ; bill greyish 

 horn-brown ; feet leaden grey, iris dajk brown. 

 Female — Sm^aller and duller in colouring ; top of he;id 

 grey-whitish; streak from najie behind ear -coverts 

 narrower ; breaet-streak much reduced or wanting ; 

 under parts less purely white, grey-bluish. Young with 

 a greenish tint over the blue colouring, under surface 

 dirty-whjte, inclining to yellowish ; crown marked with 

 a deep ash-grey circle ; nape and eyebrow stripe white, 

 band on neck grey. Hab., North-eastern Europe and 

 North Asia. Like our British Tits, this species nests 

 in holes in the branches of trees, more- especially 

 willows, more rarely in deserted Woodpeckers' holes ; 

 the nest, whioh is formed on the rotten wood, consists 

 of the hair of hares and squirrels felted together, among 

 which a few thin grass-stems are mingled. The olutoh 

 consists of ten or eleven eggs ; the young have been 

 known to leave the nest as early as June llth. 



The food of this Tit, like those of other species, 

 consists of all kinds of insects, seeds, and the kernels 

 of various berries, the fleshy part being rejected. 



In th3 Ofiederle Welt for 1880 Dr. E. Schatz 

 gives an account of two males of this lovely species 

 which, contrary to what has been asserted, retained 

 their britrht colouring throughout a cold winter in a 

 cage. He kept two pairs in a large aviary with 

 numerous other birds, especially Finohes and Warblers. 

 He says that, like the other Tits, they were so fond of 

 bathing that as fast as fresh water was placed in the 

 pan they would be in it splashing about until they 

 looked quite black with the moisture. Their contidin- 



behaviour and charming colouring rendered them % 

 great source of pleasure to their owner. 



Mr. A. Kohlsohein almost induced this species to 

 go to nest in captivity; they carried building materials 

 into the nesting-place and then fetched them all out 

 agajn ; the female sc«med especially anxious to breed ; 

 but, owing, as he supjwses, to the proper insect-food 

 not being available, they gave it up. 



Dr. Russ says that, when first imjiorted, this Tit ic 

 very delicate ; but with careful attention in acclimatis- 

 ing it, it becomes vigorous and long-lived. 



Red-sided Titmouse (Farus varius). 



Male — Top of head deep glossy black with a broad 

 isabeUine yellow frontal band; a narrower streak from 

 the middle of crown to n.^pe yellowish-white; a broac 

 band from the bill along eaoh side of the head bright 

 isabedline yellow; nape-stripe black; a broad bind 

 from the bill, above the throat to nape, black ; entire 

 upper surface bluish ash-grey; flights below slightly 

 paler grey ; under wing-coverts whitish ; tail below 

 imidh as above ; body below go Id en -brown, ohestnut on 

 the flanks ; bill black, feet bright blue, eyes black. 

 The female has the band at the side of the head much 

 paler, as well ;is the streak on the crown and the middle 

 of upper brea.«t and abdomen. Hab., Japan and t'orea. 



In Seebohm's " Birds of the Japanese Empire," p. 

 86, are the following notes on this species: — "The 

 Japanese Tit is supposed to be only a summer visitor 

 to Yezzo, whence there is an e.^cvimple in the Swinboe 

 collection obtained bv Captain Blakiston at Hakodadi 

 in April (Swinhoe. The Ibu, 1874, p. 155) ; but it is a 

 resident in Hondo, whence there are four examples 

 from Yokohama in the Pryer coUectiom. " It has 

 occurred in February in the Corean Peninsula, but it 

 is not known whether it breeds there or not." (Tacza- 

 nowski, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1887, p. 604.) 



" It is a favourite cage-bird with the Japanese. Its 

 note is de>x;ribed as resembling that of the Little Woodi 

 pecker. Like the other Tits it frequents the pines. buB 

 it is much less sociable and is generally seen alone op 

 in pairs." (Jouy, Proc. L'nited States, Nat. Mus., 1883, 

 p. 287.) 



According to Russ this species has only twice been 

 imported into Europe (but he seems to have overlooked 

 the English Zoological Gardens) ; first in 1869 it reached 

 the Zoologioal Gardens of Amsterdam, and then, in the 

 .spring of 1894, four paii-s were received bj- Miss Hagen- 

 beck of Hamburg. Of the latter. Dr. Russ secured a 

 pair, and a second pair was purchased for the Zoological 

 Gardens of Berlin. 



Dr. Russ fed his pair upon a soft food consisting of 

 dried ants' eggs, graled carrot, breadcrumbs, hard- 

 boiled egg, and a little crushed hemp ; upon this he says 

 they thrive remarkablv well. Although at fir^t they 

 would not touch any other kind of food and would not 

 even accept mealworms, they gradually began to take 

 many kinds of food. The kernels of the most diverse 

 seeds were extracted, also the mealworm or some other 

 insect — a little beetle, bluebottle fly, etc. Fruit, chopped 

 apple as also cherries, thev took no notice of; yet 

 Dr. Russ says he has seen it pick up a cherry stone, 

 the fruit of which had been eaten by another bird, and 

 hammer awav at it with the object of getting at the 

 kernel ; but he cannot say whether it ever succeeded in 

 doing this ; he however Inter observed this Tit crack- 

 ing open the seed of the large sunflower. 



As this pair carried a lot of nesting-material into a 

 Hartz cage and sat therein continually, he imagined 

 that he was going to breed the .species ; but one fine 

 day thev bundled the whole lot on to the floor, and so 

 disap]K>inted his hopes. 



