LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE. 107 



Middlesbrough, an event extremely unlikely to happen at 

 the present time. 



The earliest date on which nidification has commenced 

 in the county is the I4th of March, when a nest ready for 

 eggs was found at Hovingham in 1872. A nest at Roche 

 Abbey in 1879 was placed inside an old home of a Magpie, 

 which the Tits had lined with moss and lichens. The nesting 

 eccentricities of the Paridae are well known, and this bird's 

 peculiarity lies in the direction of an occasional departure 

 from the regular habit which apportions one pair of birds 

 to one home. The late James Carter mentioned the finding of 

 a nest at Masham, in April 1876, containing three inmates, 

 all old birds, which he had considerable difficulty in ejecting 

 in order to count the eggs, fifteen in number. As early as 

 1829 (Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, 1830, p. 568), 

 there is an account of a Long- tailed Tit's nest with young, 

 near Clitheroe, which had no less than seven old birds in 

 attendance ; and in the Zoologist (1849, P- 2567), Mr. H. 

 Horsfall mentioned a similar instance. In each case nearly 

 all the birds were captured, and died in confinement, except- 

 ing one that was released and returned to rear the brood. 

 Mr. Horsfall also recorded (torn, cit.} another occurrence where 

 nine birds assisted to build a nest, while two used to sit 

 upon the eggs. 



The local names are : Bottle Tit, general ; Bottle Jug, 

 North and East Ridings; Miller's Thumb, Nidd Valley; 

 Mealy Miller's Thumb, Lower Wharfe ; Long-tailed Tom 

 and Long-tailed Pie, Loftus-in-Cleveland ; Tom Piper, 

 central Ryedale ; Featherpoke, North and East Ridings ; 

 Feathersack, Northallerton ; and Hedge Featherpoke, Don- 

 caster, 1848. 



An example of the white-headed, or Continental form of 

 the Long- tailed Tit is reported as having been seen, in company 

 with birds of the ordinary British type, on March i8th 1905, 

 near Kirkham Abbey (op. cit. 1906, p. 149). 



