GREAT TITMOUSE. 141 



alarm at my unwelcome intrusion. In the spring of 

 1853, a pair of these birds built their nest in a wooden 

 j)ump (not an uncommon occurrence with the tit tribe), 

 near Norwich, a detailed account of which will be found 

 in the " Zoologist" for that year, p. 4015. The birds, 

 who gained an entrance to the interior through the slit 

 made for the handle to work in, passed in and out 

 repeatedly, regardless of observers or the passing up and 

 down of the rod at every stroke of the pump, which 

 was in constant use; and eventually hatched twelve 

 young ones in this strange situation. The most extraor- 

 dinary nest however, of this species, that I ever saw or 

 read of, was discovered in a plantation at Earlham in 

 the summer of 1859. This natural curiosity, which 

 is carefully preserved in the collection of Mr. John 

 Gurney, of Earlham Hall, was discovered in a rough 

 corner cupboard, fixed at one end of an old shep- 

 herd's house, erected in a plantation for the use of the 

 gamekeeper. In the centre of the cupboard was a 

 single shelf, and the door being kept shut, the pair of 

 titmice could only obtain access through a small hole in 

 the woodwork above. Through this opening, however, 

 the enormous amount of materials found must have 

 been introduced bit by bit, until the entire space 

 between the shelf and the top of the cupboard, leaving 

 only just room enough for the hen bird to sit, was filled 

 with a compact mass of twigs, moss, bents, feathers, 

 rabbits' down, horse hair, wool, and even flowering 

 grasses. Moss formed, of course, the chief substance 

 employed, yet so wonderfully had the whole fabric been 

 woven together, that when taken from the shelf upon 

 which it was erected, it retained the exact shape of 

 the three-cornered cupboard, the sides being as firm 

 and neat as a well kept grass edging levelled with a 

 roll. The following dimensions of this remarkable 

 structure will best give an idea of the skill and labour. 



