208 THE TITS 



days, when colour counts for little, and the bird is quietly going about 

 its ordinary business, the delicate wind-blown crest melts into the 

 sombreness of tossing pine-branches. The very fragility of this orna- 

 mental crest gives it additional charm. It consists merely of a few 

 rows of dull black feathers, edged with greyish white, graduated until 

 the central one stands out considerably beyond the rest. The blue-tit 

 when agitated erects his crown feathers, and presents the vexed and 

 ruffled appearance of an angry terrier. The crested-tit's display of 

 emotion is more dignified, because in his case the long delicate plume 

 resembles that surmounting a knight's helmet ; while the black gorget 

 and collar together with a secondary dusky band, which half-encircles 

 his neck, are like some order of merit, and at close range further 

 distinguish this bird from his more bourgeois brethren. 



Gould describes the call-note of this species as "a sharp and 

 piercing cry." Mr. H. G. Alexander likens it to the nuthatch's most 

 common succession of notes ; he says, too, that he has never heard 

 other than this one trill, which is louder and of a pitch that travels 

 further than most tits'. 



Crested-tits feed principally upon insects and their larvae, which 

 they diligently pursue after the manner of titmice generally, by cling- 

 ing to the underside of a branch, hanging head-downwards, and rest- 

 lessly flitting from place to place. The food must often be of a minute 

 character. Saxby describes a little flock which he watched feeding 

 for upwards of half an hour on one particular tree : " Directing their 

 attention almost exclusively to the extremities of smaller branches " ; 

 and, although he broke off several of these, he was unable to ascertain 

 the exact nature of their food. 1 



Mr. Alexander tells me he once saw two crested-tits fighting in 

 the pine-forests near Arcachon. His description of this combat is as 

 follows : " Two which we saw seemed to be fighting rather vigor- 

 ously, for they fluttered right down to the ground together in a confused 

 feathery ball, and there remained motionless several seconds, one 



1 Zoologist, 1802, p. 7998. 



