PARUS CAUDATUS. 



335 



tree. To get into it the bird had to go underneath a stone 

 which leant against the trunk ; and on June 11th I got a nest 

 with raw young ones in a rotten Scotch fir stump at Stravithie. 

 The hole was too small for my hand, so I removed as much of 

 the grass and rotten wood as allowed me to look down. I put 

 down my hand and found the nest filled with the gorbs. I saw 

 something white in the hole ; to satisfy myself I pulled some 

 up— it was a superabundance of rabbits' fur stuffed in the 

 cavity, which was ten inches under the surface, while the stump 

 was ten inches above it — more like a nest for young rabbits than 

 young cole-tits. And on June Uth, 1889, I got one with ten 

 young ones, fourteen inches into a mouse's hole, at Bonnytown 

 den, formed on the mouse's old nest — the most singular one I 

 ever got. I had to cut the hole until I reached it, which was also 

 lined with fur. 1 stood and watched the old bird ; when it got a 

 fly or grub it hopped about, cheeping, from branch to branch till 

 it reached the one nearest its nest, then darted down to it. It 

 did this repeatedly, getting the food amongst the trees close by. 

 The eggs are less than the blue-tit's — pale pink, speckled with 

 red spots and some bigger spots at the larger end. The bird is 

 4£ inches long by 7f . The head, throat, and under part of the 

 neck, glossy blue-black ; cheeks, sides of the neck, and a large 

 patch on the nape, white ; hind parts, brownish yellow ; two 

 white bars on the wings ; legs, bluish-grey ; bill, black ; iris, 

 brown. Female similar. They are found in all the old woods 

 about here. 



The Long-Tailed Tit or Mitfflin. 



(Par us Caudatus.) Linn. 



" But still, where general choice is good, 

 There is a better and a best ; 

 And, among fairest objects, some 



Are fairer than the rest." — Wordstvorth . 



This pretty little bird, like the cole-tit, is found in nearly all 

 the old woods about St Andrews, although sparsely, and, as it 

 seldom leaves the recesses of its native haunts, it is not often 

 observed ; and were it not for its mouse-like cheep of twit, twit. 

 would scarcely be noticed at all, it is so small and agile, and keeps 



