6 Coward, Willow Titmouse in Lancashire and Cheshire. 



birds constantly, and was able to see them on many 

 occasions at ver}- close quarters. ^Tessrs. A. W. Boyd, 

 T. Hadfield, C. Oldham and Dr. Tattersall also saw the 

 birds. For the first ten days the pair only occasionall}- 

 visited the hole, but on the 25th they were working ver\- 

 hard ; both birds excavated and carried away the chips 

 of rotten wood. These chips were not dropped at the 

 foot of the tree, but were carefully carried to a neighbour- 

 ing tree and then allowed to fall. On or about INIay 2nd 

 incubation began, but I ccjuld not tell what share, if any, 

 the male bird took in this work. By the i6th of the 

 month the young were evidently hatched, and both birds 

 were occasionally absent from the tree, seeking food for 

 the young, at the same time. On June 7th I found both 

 of the old birds in the bushes at the foot of the nesting 

 tree, and they paid no visits to the nest ; I am unable to 

 say if this brood was successful!}- brought off. On Jul}- 

 17th, however, I saw a pair of Willow Tits, accompanied 

 by two or three, if not more, \oung birds, feeding in 

 alders and reeds in another part of the wood.'' 



A glance at the remarks made by the better-known 

 and more recent writers on birds reveals some interesting 

 variation in the description of the head of the IMarsh Tit. 

 Taken in order of date, we find that Colonel Montagu, in 

 1802, says: "Crown of head black, but not glossy." 

 Pennant merely quotes from Montagu. 



William Macgillivray, in 1837, described the bird thus : 

 " The head and throat brownish-black — the plumage is 

 blended, very soft and tufty, the feathers much elongated 

 on the hind part of the back. — The upper part of the 

 head and the hind part of the neck are black, with a tinge 

 of brown — the quills, their coverts, and the tail-feathers 

 dark brownish-grey, margined with yellowish -grex-, the 



1- "Biilish Birds,'" vii., uO. 



