196 COLE TIT. 



it is then renewed. When the female is sitting, at least 

 towards the end of her confinement, she hisses at any ap- 

 proaching enemy, and will also bite if molested. Mr. Knapp 

 says of this species and the Oxeye, that 'they \vill often 

 acquire or compound a note, become delighted with it, and 

 repeat it incessantly for an hour or so, and then seem to 

 forget, or be weary of it, and we hear it no more.' 



At the beginning of winter, when the plumage is new, all 

 the feathers of the back are tipped with brownish yellow, 

 which wears off into bluish grey in summer; and those on 

 the lower part of the front of the neck, from being tipped 

 with white, turn altogether black. 



The nest is placed in a hole of a tree, and according to 

 Mr. Hewitson, at a less height from the ground than that 

 of the other Titmice, even in the hollows about the roots, 

 sometimes in a hole of a wall, or of a bank, or in that of 

 a mouse, rat, or mole: it is made up of moss, wool, hair, 

 fur, and feathers. This bird, like the Oxeye, and doubtless 

 others of its race, will enlarge a hole for its accommodation 

 by removing the pulverised particles of wood which have 

 partially filled or lined it. 



The eggs, from six to eight in number, are hke those of 

 its fellows — white, spotted with light red. 



Incubation lasts about a fortnight, the male and female 

 sitting by turns: the young are fed principally mth cater- 

 pillars. Two broods are hatched in the year, of which the 

 first is fledged in May. 



Male; weight, about two drachms and a quarter; length, 

 four inches and a quarter; bill, blackish or dark horn-colour, 

 lighter at the edges and tip; iris, dusky; head, white on the 

 sides, black glossed with blue on the crown; neck, white on 

 the sides, black near the wing, with an oblong patch of white. 

 Chin and throat, black; breast, dull white in the middle 

 above; below and on the sides, light buff with a tinge of 

 green; back, bluish grey above, verging to brownish butf; the 

 feathers are singularly^ long, as is the case with most of 

 the other Titmice. 



The wings underneath, grey; they expand to the width of 

 seven inches and a third; greater and lesser wing coverts, 

 bluish grey, the feathers tipped with white, forming two bars 

 across the wings ; primaries, brownish grey, edged with greenish 

 grey on the outside, and on the inside with greyish white; 

 the first feather is very short, the second shorter than the 



