388 PARID.K. 



particularly those containing the various firs, the birch, or 

 the oak. Like the Blue Tit, also, this species is constantly 

 in motion, sometimes associated Avith Gold Crests, and Lesser 

 Redpolcs, forming a small flock, and roving from tree to tree 

 in active search for those small insects, and tlie seeds of 

 various evergreens, upon which they principally subsist. 

 They appear to bear cold weather with indifference ; and are 

 resident all the year, not only in this country and in Scot- 

 land, but even in higher northern latitudes. 



The note of this bird is generally harsh, with frequent re- 

 petition, but it sometimes assumes a more agreeable tone. 

 The nest is built of moss and wool, lined with hair, placed in 

 a hole of a wall or a tree, in a cavity of a decayed stump, and 

 occasionally on the ground at the mouth of the hole of some 

 burrowing animal. Mr. Hewitson says, that when the Cole 

 Tit " breeds in the holes of trees it is usually at a less ele- 

 vation than the other species, and sometimes even in cavities 

 which occur amongst the exposed roots." The eggs are from 

 six to eight in number, rather smaller in size than those of 

 the Blue or Marsh Tit, but like the eggs of all the species of 

 this genus, in colour they are white, spotted with pale red, 

 measuring seven lines in length, by five lines and a half in 

 breadth. 



The Cole Tit is found in most, if not all, the counties of 

 England ; and, according to Mr. Thompson, it is generally 

 distributed over L-eland, Mr. Macgillivray includes it 

 among the birds seen around Edinburgh ; and Mr. Selby, 

 who has noticed it as far as Sutherlandshire, says that it is 

 common and even abundant in the woods and pine forests of 

 Scotland. Mr. W. Christie saw it in Norway, as mentioned 

 in the Entomological Magazine, in his account of a natural 

 history trip to that country by a party of friends. M. Nils- 

 son says it is resident in Sweden ; and Pennant, in his Arc- 

 tic Zoology, states that it inhabits Siberia, and passes the 



