TRUE TITMICE. 



33 



and spotted, especially on the 'broader 'half of the egg, 

 with a kind of brownish brick-red." 



" The nests of this species are very beautiful cups, 

 very compact and firm, sometimes wedged into a fork, 

 but more commonly suspended between two or three 

 twigs, or sometimes attached by one side only to a single 

 twig. They are placed at heights of from 4 to 10 

 feet from the ground in the branches of slender trees, 

 and are usually carefully conceailed, places completely 

 encircled by creepers being very frequently chosen. 

 The chief materials of the nest are dead leaves, some- 

 times those of the bamboo, but more generally those of 

 trees ; but little of this is seen, as the exterior is 

 generally coated with mosis, and the interior is lined 

 first with excessively fine grass, and then more or less 

 thinly "with black buffalo or horse hairs." 



An interesting article on this species, illustrated by 

 a coloured plate, appeared in The Avicultural Maga- 

 zine, 1st series, Vol. VIII., pp. 243-245, from the 

 pen of Mr. E. W. Harper, a gentleman to whom 

 English aviculturists are indebted for a knowledge of 

 many of the rarer Indian birds. 



Mr. Harper regards the Liotrichince as more nearly 

 related to the Babblers than the Tits, and in this 

 opinion Mr. Finn agrees with him. I daresay they are 

 right, but I am following the order of the list of the 

 Zoological Society, which, rightly or wrongly, places 

 them with the Tits. 



True Titmice (Parus). 



AZURE TITMOUSE (Parus cyaneus). 



Male Head, 'throat and under parts generally snow- 

 white ; a deep blue streak from bill through eye to 

 nape, joining a second broader streak from nape at 

 back of ear-coverts ; upper surface beautiful azure blue, 

 deepest on shoulders, middle of wings and tail ; clear 

 'blue on middle of back and upper tail-coverts, the latter 

 feathers with white borders ; greater wing-coverts 

 white ; secondaries broadly white-tipped, primaries and 

 tail-feathers externally white-edged ; a central dark 

 blue longitudinal streak down the breast ; bill greyish 

 horn-brown ; feet leaden grey, iris dark brown. 

 Female -Smaller and duller in colouring ; top of head 

 grey-whitish ; streak from nape behind ear -coverts 

 narrower ; 'breast -streak much reduced or wanting ; 

 under parts less purely white, grey-bluish. Young with 

 a greenish tint over the blue colouring, under surface 

 dirty-white, inclining !to yellowish ; crown marked with 

 a deep ash-grey circle ; nape and eyebrow stripe white, 

 band on neck grey. Hab., North-eastern Europe and 

 North Asia. Like our British Tits, this species nests 

 in holes in the branches of trees, more especially 

 willows, more rarely in deserted Woodpeckers' holes ; 

 the nest, which is formed on the rotten wood, consists 

 of the hair of hares and squirrels felted together, among 

 which a few thin grass -stems are mingled. The clutch 

 consists of ten or eleven eggs ; the young have been 

 known to leave the nest as early as June llth. 



The food of this Tit, like those of other species, 

 consists of all kinds of insects, seeds, and the kernels 

 of various berries, the fleshy part being rejected. 



In the Gefiederte Welt for 1880 Dr. E. Schatz 

 gives an account of two males of this lovely species 

 which, contrary to what has been asserted, retained 

 their brdsrht colouring throughout a cold winter in a 

 cage. He kept two pairs in a large aviary with 

 numerous other birds, especially Finches and Warblers. 

 He says that, like the other Tits, they were so fond of 

 baithing that as fast as fresh water was placed in the 

 pan they would be in it splashing about until they 

 looked quite black with the moisture. Their confiding 



behaviour and charming colouring rendered them a 

 great source of pleasure to their owner. 



Mr. A. Kohlschein almost induced this species to 

 go to nest in captivity ; they carried building materials 

 into the nesting-place and then fetched them all out 

 agadn ; the female seemed especially anxious to breed ; 

 but, owing, as he supposes, to the proper insect-food 

 not being available, they gave it up. 



Dr. Russ says that, when first imported, this Tit it* 

 very delicate ; but with careful attention in acclimatis 

 ing it, it becomes vigorous and long-lived. 



RED-SIDED TITMOUSE (Parus varius). 



Male Top of head deep glossy black with a broad 

 isabelline yellow frontal band ; a narrower streak from 

 the middle of crown to nape yellowish-white ; a broad, 

 band from the bill along each side of the head bright 

 isabeilline yellow ; nape-stripe black ; a broad bind 

 from the bill, above the throat to nape, black; entire 

 upper surface Wuieh ash-grey ; flights below slightly 

 paler grey ; under wing-coverts whitish ; tail below 

 much as above ; body below golden-brown, chestnut on 

 the flanks ; bill 'black, feet bright blue, eyes black. 

 The female has the band at the side of the head much 

 paler, as well as the streak on the crown and the middle 

 of upper breast and abdomen. Hab., Japan and Corea. 



In Seebohm's " Birds of the Japanese Empire," p. 

 86, are the following notes on this species: "The 

 Japanese Tit is supposed to 'be only a summer visitor 

 to Yezzo, whence there is an example in the Swinhoe 

 collection obtained by Captain Blakiston at Hakodadi 

 in April (Swinhoe, The Ibis, 1874, p. 155) ; but it is a 

 resident in Hondo, whence there are four examples 

 from Yokohama in the Pryer collection. " It has 

 occurred in February in the Corean Peninsula, but it 

 is not known whether it breeds there or not." (Tacza- 

 nowski, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1887, p. 604.) 



" It is a favourite cage-bird with the Japanese. Its 

 note is described as resembling that of the Little Wood- 

 pecker. Like the other Tits it frequents the pines, but 

 it is much less sociable and is generally seen alone or 

 in pairs." (Jouy, Proc. United States, Nat. Mus., 1883. 

 p. 287.) 



According to Russ this species has only twice been 

 imported into Europe (but he seems to have overlooked 

 the English Zoological Gardens) ; first in 1869 it reached 

 the Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam, and then, in the 

 spring of 1894, four pairs were received by Miss Hagen- 

 beck of Hamburg. Of the latter, Dr. Russ secured a 

 pair, and a second pair was purchased for the Zoological 

 Gardens of Berlin. 



Dr. Russ fed his pair upon a soft food consisting of 

 dried ants' eggs, grated carrot, breadcrumbs, hard- 

 boiled egg, and a little crushed hemp ; upon this he says 

 they thrive remarkably well. Although at first they 

 would not touch any other kind of food and would not 

 even accept mealworms, they gradually began to take 

 many kinds of food. The kernels of the most diverse 

 seeds were extracted, also the mealworm or some other 

 insect a little beetle, bluebottle fly, etc. Fruit, chopped 

 apple, as also cherries, thev took no notice of ; yet 

 Dr. Russ says he has seen it pick up a cherry stone, 

 the fruit of which had been eaten by another bird, and 

 hamm-er awav at it with the object of getting at the 

 kernel ; but he cannot say whether it ever succeeded in 

 doing this ; he however later observed this Tit crack- 

 ing open the seed of the large sunflower. 



As this pair carried a lot of nesting-material into a 

 Hartz cage and sat therein continually, he imagined 

 that he was going to breed the species ; but one fine 

 day they bundled the whole lot on to the floor, and so 

 disappointed his hopes. 



