90 THE LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE. 



In spring they cease to be gregarious, and separate into 

 pairs. About the middle of May they proceed to build 

 their beautiful nest, which is oval in shape, with a small 

 hole in the upper part of the side for the entrance of the 

 bird. It is generally placed in the centre of a thick bush, 

 where it is supported by twigs and branches, and is com- 

 posed of green moss, woven throughout with wool and 

 spiders' webs, and coated over the outside with pieces of 

 grey lichen, like the nest of the Chaffinch. The inside is 

 thickly lined with feathers, of which a nest mentioned by 

 Macgillivray contained no fewer than 2379, chiefly belong- 

 ing to the Pheasant, Wood Pigeon, Eook, and Partridge. 

 The eggs, which are generally seven or eight in number, 

 are white, with pale reddish spots. I discovered a nest of 

 the Long-Tailed Titmouse in the policy grounds of Paxton, 

 near the Avenue Bridge, in the summer of 1874.^ 



But most of all it wins my admiration 



To view the structure of this little work, 



A bird's nest. Mark it well within, without, 



No tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut, 



No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert, 



No glue to join ; his little beak was all. 



And yet how neatly finished. What nice hand, 



With every implement and means of art, 



And twenty years' apprenticeship to boot, 



Could make me such another ? 



HUEDIS. 



^ Mr. W. Locke, teacher, Gateside School, Spottiswoode, has informed me 

 that the nest of the Long-Tailed Titmouse is sometimes found about Carolside 

 and Cowdenknowes. Mr. Watson, Duns, exhibited at a meeting of the Berwick- 

 shire Naturalists' Chib, held at Belford on 28th July 1880, a beautiful nest of 

 this bird found in a furze bush at Chapel, near Duns. 



