235 



PARID.E. 



200 



neck ; head and occiput bluish-ash ; throat and front of the neck pure 

 white, which blends on the breast and the middle of the belly into a 

 rosy hue ; nape, back, rump, feathers of the middle of the tail and 

 sides, fine rust colour ; great coverts of the wings deep black, bordered 

 with deep rusty on the external barb, and reddish-white on the internal 

 barb ; quills bordered with white ; feathers of the under part of the 

 tail deep black ; lateral tail-feathers bordered and terminated with 

 gray ; tail long, much graduated : bill and iris fine yellow. Length, 

 6 inches and 2 or 3 lines. 



Female. No black moustaches; throat and front of the neck 

 tarnished white; upper parts of the head and body rusty, shaded 

 with brown ; on the middle of the back some longitudinal black 

 spots ; under tail-coverts bright rusty. 



Young at their leaving the nest, and before their first moult, with 

 nearly the whole of the plumage of very bright reddish ; a good deal 

 of black on the external barbs of the quills and tail-feathers ; on the 

 middle of the back a very large space of deep black. After the first 

 moult nothing of the deep black of the back remains but some longi- 

 tudinal spots. 



Varieties. More or less marked with white or whitish ; the colours 

 of the plumage often feebly developed. (Temminck.) 



M. Temminck remarks that the Zahnschiiblige Bartmcise of Brehm 

 is a species or sub-species founded only on individuals which have 

 been long caged, such as may be seen in the Dutch markets, where 

 numbers are sold. Some of these captives come to London, where 

 they may be bought for some four or five shillings a pair. The iris 

 and bill in the living bird are of a delicate orange colour. 



It is found in the north of Europe, England, Sweden ; Asia, on the 

 shores of the Caspian Sea ; nowhere so abundant as in Holland ; 

 accidentally, on passage, in France. 



V 



Bc,ir,l<.il TitmouM (Tufiu ijiamtictu), male and female. (Gould./ 



Dr. Leach had observed the fondness of this species for marshy and 

 reedy spots, the shape of its open cup-shaped nest placed on the 

 ground, and the nature of its food seeds, insects and their larva:, 

 and small-shelled snails. He had also remarked that the sides of the 

 stomach in this bird were muscular and much thickened, forming a 

 gizzard which the true Tits do not possess ; and that this structure of 

 the stomach afforded the power of breaking down the shells of the 

 Testaceous Molluscs Succinea amphibia and Pupa mutconun many 

 of which had been found comminuted therein. Still, from the com- 

 parative rarity of this bird iu Oreat Britain, and the impervious nature 

 of ita haunts, its habits were comparatively little known. Mr. Hoy 

 and Mr. Dykes have supplied much interesting information on this 

 head. 



The former states that the Bearded Tit begins building towards the 

 end of April, and that the nest is composed on the outside of dead 

 leaves of the reed and sedge, intermixed with a few pieces of grass, 

 and lined with the top of the reed. He describes it as generally 

 placed in a tuft of coarse grass or rushes near the ground, on the 

 margin of the dykes, in the fens ; and sometimes as fixed among the 

 reeds that are broken down, but never suspended between the stems. 

 Their food, he lays, is principally the seed of the reed, and so intout 



were they on their search for it, that he had taken them with a bird- 

 limed twig attached to a fishing-rod. When alarmed by any sudden 

 noise, or the passing of a hawk, they uttered their shrill musical notes 

 and concealed themselves among the thick bottoms of the reeds ; but 

 they soon resumed their station, climbing the upright stems with the 

 greatest facility. 



Mr. Dykes had an opportunity of examining three specimens, and 

 he found their crops completely filled with the Succinea amphibia in 

 a perfect state, the shells unbroken and singularly closely packed 

 together. The crop of one, not larger than a hazel-nut, contained 

 twenty Succinete, some of them of a good size, and four Pupce mus- 

 corum, with the shells also entire. The stomach was full of small 

 fragments of shell in a greater or less degree of decomposition. 

 Numerous sharp angular fragments of quartz which had been swal- 

 lowed had, with the action of the stomach, effected the comminution 

 of the shells. 



Two nests obtained by Mr. Yarrell from the parish of Horsey were 

 sustained only an inch or two above the ground by the strength of 

 the stems of the coarse grass on which they were fixed. Each was 

 composed entirely of dried bents, the finer ones forming the lining ; 

 others increasing in substance made up the exterior. Mr. Yarrell 

 states the number of eggs at from four to six, rather smaller than 

 those of the Great Titmouse, and less pointed ; 8 J lines long by 

 64 lines in breadth; white, and sparingly marked- with pale red lines 

 or scratches. (' British Birds.') 



P. pendulinus, the Penduline Titmoxise. This is the Ue'miz or 

 Me"sange de Pologne of the French, and Beutel Meise of the Germans. 



Male. Bill black, straight, a little elongated, and pointed; tail 

 short ; top of the head and nape pure ash-colour ; forehead, space 

 between the eye and the bill, region of the eyes, and feathers of the 

 orifices of the cars, deep black ; back and scapulars reddish-gray ; 

 rump ash-colour ; throat white, the other lower parts whitish with 

 rosy tints ; coverts of the wings chestnut, bordered and terminated 

 with whitish-rusty and white ; wings and tail blackish, bordered with 

 whitish-rusty; tail-feathers terminated with white; iris yellow. 

 Length 4 inches 3 or 4 lines. 



Female. Rather less than the male ; the black on the forehead not 

 so large nor so pure ; the band which paases over the eyes and termi- 

 nates at the ears bluish-black ; ash-colour of the head less pure ; 

 upper parts more clouded with rusty, but there is a yellowish tint on 

 the middle of the belly. 



The Young up to their first moult have the colours brighter ; they 

 have not the forehead black. 



rcndulinc Titmouse (Farm pc t i(iitliint^ l and neat.' 



