50 The Parida, or Titmice. [Sess. 



practise what they preach ; and although inveighing against the 

 slaughter of rare birds, I am just afraid, if temptation in the 

 shape of a crested tit were put in some of our own ways, we 

 might be apt to eat our principles for the time being in order 

 to possess the skin. A stuffed example may be seen in the 

 Museum of Science and Art, and judging from it and the 

 coloured plates in several ornithological works, it must be a very 

 pretty bird to watch in life. 



We come now to the last, tlie long-tailed tit. This is the 

 creature that rejoices in the names of Bottle Tom and Poke- 

 pudding. The peculiarity about this species is the dispropor- 

 tionate length of tail to the size of the bird, and in many re- 

 spects it is different from other tits, in none more so than in 

 its plumage, which is fluffier, more muddled in its colours, and 

 not so decided in its contrasts. To watch the old birds and 

 the newly-flown young herding together among the woods is a 

 never- tiring treat. The Hedgliugs look no larger than humble- 

 bees, and the long thin tail attached gives them somewhat the 

 appearance of a comet as they flit from branch to branch. 

 To add two other similes, the one ornithological and the other 

 reptilian, they may be said to resemble a magpie in shape, 

 though not in colour, and a powet or tadpole, though not in 

 size. The body is exceedingly small, and is the most diminu- 

 tive of British species, save the gold and fire crests : the bill 

 also is shorter than that in any of thp other tits, and is nearly 

 obscured by the soft downy feathers :;t the base. It is not an 

 uncommon bird by any means, and may be seen during late 

 autumn, and winter even, in the suburbs of Edinburgh where 

 there are belts of high trees ; but perhaps it may only resort 

 to those localities when driven in by stress of weather. The 

 scientific name adopted by most modern writers is Acrcdula 

 caudata, it having been made the type of a sub-genus from its 

 dissimilarity in many points to the other Paridae ; and certainly, 

 when you examine a specimen, there is sufficient evidence to 

 warrant the change. With a slight description of its nest I 

 shall conclude this paper. Unlike other tits, this species does 

 not hide its nest in holes, but forms an elaborate structure, 

 which is placed between the branches of bushes or in the fork 

 of a tree. It is composed of moss, coated with lichens, after 

 the manner of the chaffinch, and lined with soft feathers. In 



