CRESTED TIT. 393 



has some resemblance to that of the Cole Tit, but a pecu- 

 liar shake at the finish enables you to distinguish it among 

 others of the tribe ; its simple call -note is also somewhat 

 different. They seem partial to woods where fir and oak 

 trees are mixed, the holes in the oaks generally serving 

 them for their nests. The female lays eight or ten white 

 eggs, with a few spots and specks of pale red ; the length 

 of the egg seven lines, and six lines in breadth. 



The adult male has the beak nearly black ; the irides 

 hazel ; the cheeks white, spotted with black ; the fore- 

 head black and white ; the elongated feathers on the top 

 of the head, which form the conical crest, are black at 

 the base broadly margined with white; from the eye, 

 passing over the ear-coverts, is a black streak, which joins 

 a circular band of the same colour curving forwards below 

 the ear-coverts ; behind this is a patch of white bounded 

 by another black band curving forward towards the side 

 of the neck : the back, wing, and tail-coverts, hair brown ; 

 quill and tail-feathers rather darker ; chin and throat covered 

 with a black triangular patch of large size, which descends 

 to the upper part of the breast ; all the under surface of 

 the body below the black is of a whitish fawn colour ; under 

 surface of the wing and tail-feathers pearl grey ; legs, toes, 

 and claws, lead colour. 



The whole length of the bird is four inches and a half. 

 From the carpal joint to the end of the wing, two inches 

 and a half : the first quill -feather less than half the length 

 of the second ; the third and fifth feathers equal in length, 

 and longer than the second ; the fourth the longest feather 

 in the wing. 



The female has the black patch on the throat of smaller 

 size than that of the male. 



