402 PARED.. 



to it. It is to be regretted that the generic characters, and 

 the reasons which induced so excellent a zoologist to make 

 the separation in this instance, as well as in many others, 

 at least as far as I am aware, were not made known. Other 

 naturalists appear to coincide with Dr. Leach in the pro- 

 priety of this division. M. Brehm, in his work on the 

 Birds of Germany, published in 1831, considers the Long- 

 tailed Tit entitled to generic distinction, and has used the 

 term Paroides for it, apparently unaware of the name pre- 

 viously given by Dr. Leach. The Prince of Canino, also, 

 in his Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North 

 America, adopts for the Long-tailed Tit the generic term 

 Mecistura. 



The Long-tailed Tit, as its name implies, has the tail 

 long and graduated; the legs and toes rather long and 

 slender ; the nest of the most perfect kind, oval in shape, 

 domed at the top, with a small hole at the upper part of 

 one side, by which access is gained to the chamber within ; 

 the nest is generally fixed in the midst of a thick bush ; 

 the bird is more decidedly insectivorous, and some other 

 differences in habits are observable. As, however, the 

 genus Mecistura of Dr. Leach has not been adopted by 

 either of the authors whose more recent ornithological 

 works are referred to and quoted at the head of each sepa- 

 rate subject here, I have included the Long-tailed Tit in 

 the genus Parus. 



The Long-tailed Tit is a well-known and common spe- 

 cies, that may be seen generally wherever there are woods, 

 thickets, shrubberies, and tall hedges. It remains in this 

 country the whole year, and in its habits among trees it 

 resembles other Tits, being active and lively, almost inces- 

 santly in motion, hopping or flitting from branch to branch 

 in search of food ; but is more select in its choice than 

 other Tits appear to be, and confines itself almost, if not 



