PASSEHES. ( 95 ) PARID^. 



THE MAESH TITMOUSE. 



MARSH-TIT, BLACK-CAP, SMALLER OX-EYE, WILLOW-BITER, 

 JOE BENT. 



Parus palustris. 



Pease ! once I sung thee when anUcjnn was glowing. 

 When flowerets were fading and Nature forlorn, 

 When trees their sere leaves on the streamlet were throwing. 

 And birds sat in silence on hazel and thorn : 



Now from the sunny south green spring returning. 



Blowing her life-givittg breath o'er the Glen, 

 Long buried beauties of Nature umirning. 



Calls me to strike my weak harp again. 



Walter Chisholm, The Pease Glen. 



The Pease Dean, a romantic and beautiful ravine in the 

 parish of Cockburnspath, seems to be a favourite resort of 

 the Marsh Titmouse, for it has been frequently observed 

 there by Mr, Hardy, who noticed a pair building their nest 

 in a decayed oak stump near the Pease Bridge, on the 4th 

 of May 1882.^ 



It is by no means a common bird in Berwickshire, but 

 is found in small numbers in many of the woods and 

 plantations throughout the county. Like the Cole Titmouse, 

 it remains with us throughout the year, and in its general 

 habits it resembles that species, from which, however, it can 

 readily be distinguished by the want of the white spot on 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. ix. p. 562, and vol. x. p. 558. 



