146 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



Although, in body, this is the smallest of the British Titmice, it certainly is 

 by far the most charming ; and its nest, in beauty, excels that of any other 

 feathered inhabitant of our islands, not even excepting that of the Chaffinch. 



The favourite haunts of this bird are groves, especially where box and 

 hawthorn abound, the outskirts of woods and plantations, orchards and shrubberies : 

 it is always on the move ; and, not being especially nervous, can be easily 

 watched whilst actively seeking its food among the branches, or capturing winged 

 prey in the air ; the only requisite is that the observer remain still. 



The nest, which varies much in form, is frequently placed in a tall hawthorn 

 hedge, sometimes on the outside in full view of every wayfarer, sometimes in a 

 clipped hedge in the very centre of the forked and thorny outgrowth of one of the 

 middle branches ; in an evergreen shrub, such as a laurustinus ; in a holly- or 

 fvirze-bush, in brambles overgrown with honeysuckle or other vines, in ivy, or in 

 the branches of a lichen-covered tree. In form it is either oval, which has given 

 the popular name of " Bottle-Tit " to its architect ; irregularly oblong, from which 

 the birds' local name of "Barrel-Tit" is probably derived, or almost perfectly 

 spherical : in size it varies to an extraordinary degree, one of my nests measuring 

 6|- inches in depth, by 4^ inches in diameter at the widest part ; another is 4f 

 inches in depth, and 3f inches in diameter ; and a third is 4! inches in depth, and 

 3^ inches in diameter : the entrance to the nest is always in front, though not 

 always accurately centred ; it is always above the middle, and frequently near the 

 top of the structure. The materials hardly vary at all, consisting of green moss 

 felted with wool and cobweb and studded with white lichen ; one of my nests also 

 shows fragments of reddish bark ; the lining consists of a mass of feathers and hair.* 



The eggs are pure white, usually finely but somewhat sparely speckled with 

 rusty or pale blood-red ; but occasionally only faintly suffused with this colour : in 

 form they vary from a very obtusely pointed long oval, to a short oval almost 

 approaching a sphere. 



My experience of the eggs of this species is, that ten represent a full clutch ; 

 but Lord Lilford says that he has found as many as eleven, and that seven is the 

 usual number : as many as twenty have been found in a nest, but there can hardly 

 be a question that, in this case, they are the product of two hens. In North- 

 amptonshire the country people call this Tit " Pudding-bag " and " Pudding-poke," 

 as well as " Bottle Tit." 



Unlike the nests of most of our birds, the home of the Long-tailed Tit takes 

 both parents fully a fortnight to complete ; but, when finished, it certainly is "a 

 thing of beauty " ! When I have seen one of these lovely works of art torn to 



* The local name of "Feather-poke" may be due to this. 



