TODY 969 
it, is Acredula, containing that curious-looking bird the Long-tailed 
or Bottle-Titmouse, with its many local races or species inhabiting 
various parts of the Palearctic area, which must be here passed 
over without a word. The bird itself, having its tail longer than 
its body, is unlike any other found in the northern hemisphere, 
while its nest is a perfect marvel of construction, being in shape 
nearly oval with a small hole in one side. The exterior is studded 
with pieces of lichen, worked into a firm texture of moss, wool 
fh 
Pp 
. 
j 
PARUS. JEGITHALUS. 
(After Swainson.) 
and spiders’ nests, and the inside is profusely lined with soft 
feathers—2379 having been, says Macgillivray, counted in one 
example. Not inferior in beauty or ingenuity is the nest built by 
the Penduline Titmouse, Agithalus pendulinus, of the south of 
Europe, which differs, however, not merely in composition but in 
being suspended to a bough, while the former is nearly always 
placed between two or more branches. 
The general affinities of the Paridx seem to lie rather with the 
Sittide (NUTHATCH, p. 647) and Certhiide (TREE-CREEPER) ; and 
those systematists who would ally them to the Laniidx (SHRIKE, 
p- 843), or still more interpose the last between the former Families, 
have yet to find grounds for so doing. 
II. The so-called ‘‘ Bearded Titmouse,” Panurus biarmicus, has 
habits wholly unlike those of any of the foregoing, and certainly does 
not belong to the Family Paridx, though its real affinity has not 
yet been clearly shewn. It was formerly found in many parts of 
England, especially in the eastern counties, where it bore the name 
of Reed-Pheasant;! but through the draining of meres, the 
destruction of reed-beds, and (it must be added) the rapacity of 
collectors, it now only exists as a native in a very few localities. 
It is a beautiful little bird of a bright tawny colour, variegated 
with black and white, while the cock is further distinguished by a 
bluish-grey head and a black tuft of feathers on each side of the 
chin. Its chief food seems to be the smaller kinds of freshwater 
mollusks, which it finds among the reed-beds it seldom quits. 
TODY, Pennant’s rendering in 1773 (Gen. B. p. 17) through the 
1 The names given to this bird are so very inapplicable that it is almost a 
pity that ‘‘Silerella” (from si/er, an osier) bestowed upon it by Sir T. Browne, 
its discoverer (ef. Ray, Collection of English Words, London: 1674), cannot be 
restored, though it is less a frequenter of willow-garths than of reed-beds 
(ef. Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, i. pp. 511-522). 
