MARSH TITMOUSE 



MARSH TIT BLACK-CAP SMALLER OXEYE WILLOW- 

 BITER JOE BENT. 



PLATE XXXIV. 

 Parus palustris, LINNAEUS. 



MR. HEWITSON, on the authority of Montagu, says 

 that considerable pains are taken by this species in 

 hollowing and scooping out a suitable cavity for its nest, as 

 it works, always downwards, in forming a passage to a larger 

 apartment at the end. Montagu has observed it carrying 

 away the chips to some distance in its bill. 



The nest is described by the former as being somewhat 

 more carefully made than that of others of the Titmice. It is 

 formed of moss, wool, grass, willow catkins, horse-hair, and 

 any other soft materials, and is placed in the hollow of a tree, 

 such as is afforded by the head of a pollarded willow, whose 

 decapitation has been followed, as a necessary consequence, 

 by decay. 



Mr. Booth, speaking of this species, writes : " The nest 

 is occasionally found in holes in trees or banks. One was 

 pointed out to me some years ago in a small cavity in a 

 grass-park, that must originally have been either a mouse- 

 hole or a bees' nest. The eggs, like those of the rest of the 



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