THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 157 



which always accompanies their journeyings, without stop- 

 ping to watch the little family on their flight. 



The nest of this species is of most exquisite workmanship 

 and beautiful texture. Its form is that of a large cocoon 

 broadest at the base, or that of a fir-cone. It is sometimes 

 fastened to the. stem of a tree, sometimes placed in a fork, 

 but more frequently built into the middle of a thick bush, 

 so that it can only be removed by cutting away the 

 branches to which it is attached. The outer surface is 

 composed principally of the white lichen which is most 

 abundant in the neighbourhood, and so is least likely to 

 attract attention. All the scraps are woven together 

 with threads of fine wool ; the dome is felted together, 

 and made rain-proof by a thick coating of moss and 

 lichen, wool and the web of spiders' eggs. The walls 

 are of moss. The interior is a spherical cell, lined with 

 a profusion of feathers. A softer or warmer bed it 

 would be hard to imagine. At the distance of about an 

 inch from the top is a circular opening scarcely large 

 enough to admit one's thumb. In this luxurious couch, 

 which it has cost the female bird some three weeks of 

 patient industry to complete, she lays ten or twelve eggs, 

 which all in good time are developed into as many Bottle 

 Tits ; but by what skilful management the ten or twelve 

 long tails are kept unruffled, and are finally brought to 

 light as straight as arrows, I can oifer no opinion. ISTests 

 are occasionally found containing as many as eighteen or 

 twenty eggs. In these cases it is affirmed that two or 

 more females share a common nursery, and incubate 

 together. Several males have also been observed feeding 

 together during the breeding season ; so it may be that 

 the close society, which had been preserved so strictly 

 during the preceding winter, in some instances is con- 

 tinued to a certain extent for another year. Certainly 

 it is difficult to imagine how a single pair can manage to 

 supply with food eighteen or twenty hungry young birds. 



