THE COAL TITMOUSE. 131 



wrong to keep ' cole ' as the distinguishing prefix of this 

 titmouse. It may be urged that the Germans set us the 

 example, writing Kohl-Meise and not Kohle-Meise, but here 

 the e is doubtless dropped by way of abbreviation or 

 euphony. It may also be remarked that the second 

 syllable of the word tit-mouse has nothing to do with the 

 quadruped so-called, but it is cognate with the root of the 

 French Mcsange, the Anglo-Saxon Mase, the German and 

 Danish Meise, the Swedish Mes, and the Dutch Mees (pi. 



THE COAL TITMOUSE. 



Meesen). It may, therefore, be doubtful whether the plural 

 of titmouse should be titmice, as custom has it ; but the 

 editor has not the courage to use ' titmouses,' though he 

 believes he has heard East Anglians say ' titmousen/ just 

 as they always use the old form housen for houses!" 



In Scotland the bird is called Coaly-Hood. 



Secbohm gives the scientific name as Parus Briianmcus, 

 and says it differs from the typical Parus ater, which appears 

 continually to visit our islands, and apparently to inter- 



