CRESTED TITMOUSE 



CRESTED TIT. 



PLATE XXXII. 

 Pants cristatus, . . LINNAEUS. 



THE Crested Titmouse is a very local species, being rare 

 in the British Islands, and breeding only in the North 

 of Scotland. 



The nest, which is composed of grass, moss, or lichens, 

 and feathers, or any soft materials, is usually placed in a 

 hole of a tree the oak being said to be preferred or in 

 the deserted nests of Crows or squirrels ; probably the par- 

 ticulars related of the other Titmice would apply to this one 

 also, as to its location, for a nest examined by Mr Hewitson 

 was thus scooped out. He writes as follows: "When trees 

 are felled in the forests in Bavaria, their trunks are left 

 standing about two feet above ground ; and in the decayed 

 wood of one of these a hole was scooped to contain the nest 

 of which I have spoken -just such a situation as would have 

 been chosen by the Cole Titmouse." It appears sometimes 

 to build a nest for itself in a bush, and with an opening on 

 the side, but Mr. Howard Saunders suggests that this is the 

 occupancy of a deserted nest of the Wren or Long-tailed 

 Titmouse. In Scotland the nest is generally placed in 

 the rotten stump of a fir or pine tree broken off by the wind ; 



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