GREATER TITMOUSE. 171 



bation again resumed. The nest is built in an 

 old tree, where the hole is sometimes excavated, 

 and is almost always enlarged by the birds. Nor 

 is publicity more avoided : we have known the 

 nest of both this and the former placed in a 

 window frame, and having for an entrance the 

 opening by which the leaden hanging weights 

 were introduced ; a mass of moss and warm 

 materials are carried in, and from eight to ten or 

 twelve eggs are laid, of a delicate white, spotted 

 or slightly blotched with clear rufous red. The 

 parents are equally pugnacious and bold when 

 disturbed, the one flitting near and around with 

 anxious cries, while the other is prepared to 

 defend her charge within. 



This beautiful bird is one of the largest of the 

 genus. The forehead, crown, throat, and a narrow 

 band encircling the auriculars, deep glossy steel- 

 bluish black. The black of the throat extends in 

 a mesial line upon the breast, belly, and vent, 

 expanding on the centre of the belly, and forming 

 there a broad patch ; on these parts the colour 

 wants the steel blue lustre of the head. The 

 cheeks and auricular feathers are pure white, 

 forming a triangular spot, very conspicuous from 

 its contrast with the surrounding colour. The 

 tips of the auriculars are sometimes slightly tipped 

 with lemon yellow ; back of the neck and back 

 olive green, of a paler and clearer tint on the 

 nape, and becoming nearly white where it joins 

 the black hood ; on the rump and tail coverts it 

 shades into bluish gray; the breast, belly, and 



