Henninger, ox the Parid^ of Germany. o 



Picking my way along the edge of a small park, struggling 

 through the mire against a severe gust of wind, I was not 

 paying the usual close attention to the surroundings when a 

 sharp whirr made me look up, and just at that moment I saw 

 a troop of from ten tO' fifteen 'Panhandles' alighting in some 

 birch trees. It seemed as if a small flight of miniature white 

 arrows was showered from twig to twig, from branch to 

 branch. Hanging on the lower side of the boughs, encircling 

 others with their tiny claws, performing all sorts of gymnastic 

 exercises about them, whirring to another tree, examining all 

 crevices for insects, sounding their sharp notes 'derr derr,' 

 these titmice were certainly to all appearances a large edition 

 of animated snowflakes. Never did I see a flock of birds make 

 a more careful and systematic search for insects and their eggs 

 than this swarm of pygmies ; and they did it sO' rapidly that it 

 almost made your head ache by trying to keep your eyes 

 -riveted on this bunch of busybodies. They disappeared just as 

 swiftly as they had come. Though a tender bird in outward 

 appearance this little dwarf is perfectly hardy and many, many 

 of its families brave the storms ol northern Germany, yea the 

 farther south you go the rarer it is until in Spain and Greece 

 it is seldom found. 



The birds are not as quarrelsome as other members of the 

 family Paridse, but are jolly and more active, roving about in 

 troops not only in winter and fall, for my earliest dates of 

 troops of 25 or 30 are June 28, 1892, near the Rhine. The 

 birds seem to prefer the non-coniferous forests ; where the 

 deciduous trees are missing they are not often found, and even 

 then they Avill prefer parks and orchards to the depths of the 

 woods. In their rambles they are frequently associated with 

 other titmice, kinglets and creepers. Their song is a sweet 

 melodious twitter that does not carry very far, according to my 

 observations. As a nest-builder, however, the Long-tailed Tit 

 develops a mastership that calls forth our highest admiration. 

 In contrast to the other members of the family except Panurus 

 biarmicus and Remiza pendulina, it builds a nest, not being 

 satisfied with a cavity only, although some observers state 



