20 Titmice. 



working from the outside, and the other from the inside. It is 

 remarkable that in the construction of its nest, which requires 

 peculiar solidity, the long-tailed titmouse uses materials like those 

 which are employed by the humming birds, and binds its nest 

 together with webs of caterpillars, and cases of spiders. The 

 exterior of the nest is covered with lichens, so that the whole 

 edifice looks like a natural excrescence upon the tree or bush in 

 which it is placed, as is the case with the well-known nest of the 

 chaffinch ; sometimes the form of the nest is rather different from 

 that which has been mentioned, and the structure is flask-shaped, 

 the entrance corresponding to the neck of the flask. Now and then 

 a nest is found in which there are two openings, one near the top 

 in the usual position, and the other on the opposite side and near 

 the bottom ; some say that it is to allow the bird's tail to go through 

 on one side while its head is on the other, but if this were the case 

 all nests probably would have the two openings, whereas they are 

 very seldom found so. If the finger be introduced into the aperture 

 a charmingly soft and warm bed of downy feathers is felt, in which, 

 rather than on which, the numerous and fragile eggs repose. The 

 bird will build its nest in various trees, but always chooses a spot 

 where the branches are very close, and the foliage dense. The 

 gorse-bush is a favourite residence with the long-tailed titmouse, 

 and so deeply is the nest buried in the prickly branches that it is 

 a very difl^cult and unpleasant task to remove it. The number of 

 eggs varies considerably, but their number is always large, and on 

 an average ten or twelve eggs are found in one nest. 



The next best known member of this family is the greater tit- 

 mouse (Parus major), the largest of its family, and generally known 

 all over Ein"ope and in Asia. Their food consists of insects and 

 grain. The nest is made in a hole of a tree or wall, and usually 

 contains from six to ten eggs, which are white spotted with brown, 

 and so like the eggs of the nuthatch as not to be distinguished from 

 them. The common note of the great titmouse is a sort of chatter, 

 but in the spring there is a greater variety of note, a shrill whistle, 

 and a singular noise resembling somewhat the whetting of a saw. 

 I found a nest of a great titmouse the summer before last at the 

 mouth of a drain, which had become dry through the scarcity of 

 water, but shortly after she had laid her eggs some water came 

 down the drain, however she appeared to take no notice of it, and 

 as the drain soon became dry again, she hatched her eggs in spite 

 of it. A variety was once killed near Feversham, in Kent, which 

 had its bill crossed as in " Loxia Curvirostra" 



One of the most curious species of titmice is the Penduline tit- 

 mouse, which is found in Plurope and Siberia, frequenting watery 

 places for the sake of the aquatic insects upon which it feeds. The 



