CRESTED-TIT 



Banding up more or less on top of the other. Presently this one flew 

 to a tree, and the other followed it, apparently none' the worse ; the 

 lust then trilled very vigorously. A third bird was near by, appar- 

 ently watfhin:, and as it did not trill at all. I think it is fairly reasonable 

 to suppose that it was the female. These birds were amongst the 

 small trees ; there were no other tits with them." 



The nests are usually placed in holes in decayed pine-trees, from 

 three to twelve feet above ground. Occasionally they have been 

 found in iron or wooden posts ;' but the crested-tit is akin to the conl- 

 tit in its marked preference for old stumps. They have been known 

 to make use of deserted crow, magpie, or squirrel nests; while in 

 Prussia now and again elaborate structures, similar to those built by 

 the common wren, have been found in juniper bushes. 



The nest itself is composed of green moss, lined with wool, hair, or 

 feathers. One described by Mr. Harvie- Brown had a superstructure 

 of red-deer hair, with a lining of blue hare's fur. Another contained 

 grouse feathers in the lining, and tufts of cotton grass in the main 

 structure. 8 In the matter of this fur lining the crested-tit's nursery 

 seems most to resemble those of coal and marsh-tits. As regards the 

 nest occasionally found in juniper bushes, perhaps the crested-tit is 

 on the way towards attaining that degree of perfection in the art of 

 building already reached by the wren and longtailed-tit. Did all the 

 members of this family originally build in holes ; or are the coal, marsh, 

 great, and blue-tits lazy and degenerate, preferring the comparatively 

 easy task of filling up a ready-made hole, to the maximum of labour 

 entailed in making such an elaborate nest as that of the longtailed- 

 tit y 



Although so locally distributed in Great Britain, the habitat of the 

 crested-tit is extensive throughout Europe. In Germany, Naumann 

 says, " It is partly a resident, and to some extent a wanderer, but does 

 not leave us, and is not so much a vagrant as many other birds. Their 

 ramblings are most extended in the late autumn and spring ; the 



of the Moray Bonn. * Dresser and Sh&rpe, Bird* of Europe, vol. ill 



