LONG-TAILED TIT. 187 



tribes, and they are equally remarkable for the small- 

 ness and the efficiency of their bills. The bottle tit 

 (Parus longicaudatus] has the bill so very short, that 

 it barely appears beyond the produced feathers at 

 the base; yet this minute bill is one of the most 

 active, hardy, and efficient little instruments in the 

 whole animal economy. It can bite sharply and 

 hold firmly, and there are few birds which construct 

 more elaborately beautiful nests. Though on a very 

 small scale, the bill of this interesting little bird is a 

 perfect model, the maximum of usefulness with the 

 minimum of matter. The bills of the other species 

 of the genus are all finely formed, though none of 

 them are quite equal to this one. 



The bills of this genus partake a little of the cha- 

 racters of those of some of Cuvier's tenuirostres, though 

 they are capable of performing more severe labour 

 than most of these. They do not break the hard 

 crusts of seeds by squeezing them between the man- 

 dibles, but rather hew them asunder by strokes of 

 the bill, and in the same way they dig into the folds 

 of buds and the crevices of bark for the larvae and 

 the eggs of insects ; nor have they any aversion to 

 carrion when it comes in their way. 



The bearded reed bird, which has generally been 

 described as one of the genus Parus, has the bill in- 

 termediate between those of that genus and the 

 finches and linnets. It is stout in proportion to its 

 size, but it is slightly curved in the upper mandible, 

 and thus it is a bruising bill rather than a thrusting 

 one. The habits of the bird correspond. It lives in 

 reeds over the marshes, the seeds of which are not 

 so hard in the coats as the seeds of plants on dry 

 ground. 



The larks may be regarded as more directly con- 



