I 



THE CRESTED TITMOUSE. 115 



or three years) so near London as Kingsbury, and 

 Blackheath, as recorded in The Birds of Middlesex, 

 PP- 56, 57 ; while still farther to the south the bird 

 is reported to have been met with in Stanpit Marsh, 

 near Christchurch (Wise's New Forest, p. 314), and 

 in the Isle of Wight. 1 Such are the brief records 

 of its appearance in England. 



It is clear, then, that those who would observe the 

 habits of this little bird, within the limits of the British 

 Islands, must seek it in the pine forests of Scotland. 

 Moray, Ross, Inverness, Perth, Elgin, and Banff, are 

 the counties in which it has been most frequently 

 observed, breeding chiefly in the three first named. 



"In some seasons," says Mr. Robert Gray, 

 " this bird is much more plentiful than in others, but 

 it is doubtful if the increase in any particular year 

 an be attributed to a natural extension of its distri- 

 bution ; it probably arises from the arrival of migra- 

 tory flights from other countries." 2 



Sir William Jardine was informed by Lieut. 

 Chauner that he had several times, seen the bird 



1 Rev. C. N. Bury, Zoologist, 1844 and 1845 > an d A. G. More, in 

 Venables' Guide to the Isle of Wight, p. 429. 



2 Birds of the West of Scotland, p. 104. 



