OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. I'll 



TIT, CRESTED. 



TOWARDS the end of last spring I was staying near 

 to Spean Bridge, intending, when I had finished 

 my work in that particular part of the country, 

 to descend the valley of the Spey in search of 

 Crested Tits at home. 



As the country around me seemed to contain 

 all the essential elements of the bird's habitat, 

 and was moreover not far away from the district 

 I had always been led to understand formed its 

 headquarters, I began to look for it and make 

 some inquiries. As a result I was shown two 

 favourite nesting sites of the species within a mile 

 of each other, by a local naturalist. One of these 

 was in a cast-iron gate-post, to which the bird 

 gained access by means of an open bolt-hole, and 

 the other in the hollow tree figured in our illus- 

 tration. The entrance hole was situated just above 

 the line of the third wire from the top in the 

 deer forest fence behind the tree, and rather 

 nearer the left than the right hand side of the 

 trunk. It had been tenanted six or seven years 

 in succession ; and I much regretted arriving just 

 after the young ones had become fully fledged, 

 and were flying about amongst the neighbouring 

 tree tops with their parents, whose notes I at 

 once detected as belonging to some bird I had 

 never had the pleasure of hearing before. Owing 

 to the foliage, and their trick of keeping to the 

 highest parts of the trees, it was no easy matter 

 to get a good view of the adult birds through my 

 field-glasses. 



In different parts of the forest I saw several 

 families of Long-Tailed, Cole, and Blue Tits. 



It is said that the Crested Tit sometimes digs 



