14 THE SMALLER BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE LONG-TAILED TIT, 



(Parus caudal us.) 

 PLATE I. PIODRE VI. 



NEVER surely did a pretty little bird have such a variety of odd and 

 ugly names bestowed upon it. We can understand what is meant by 

 the Long-tailed Titmouse, Pie, and Mag, because the bird has a long 

 tail, and is a chatterer, and therefore may be likened to the Pie, or 

 Magpie; we know what is meant by Bottle-Tit and Bottle-Tom it 

 makes a bottle-shaped nest ; Long Tom and Long Pod may have 

 reference either to the nest or the tail; but why Mum-Ruffin, why 

 Poke-Pudding, why Huck-Muck, and why Mufflin ? One catches a 

 glimpse of meaning in the last name the bird covers and muffles up 

 its young in a large bottle-shaped nest, that has its opening at the 

 side ; this nest too may by country people be likened to a pudding, 

 into which the bird is poked ; there is a reason for another name ; 

 but the rest are as inexplicable as they are comical. But the most 

 wonderful name of all is that by which, we are told, the bird was 

 known to the Ancient Britons Y Benloyn Gnyffonhir. Will some of 

 our Welsh friends favour us with a translation of this ? 



Nearly all the Tits are distributed pretty well throughout Europe, 

 and this is no exception to the rule ; it is found through a wide range 

 of temperature, from Siberia to Italy. In Asia, also, and the West 

 Indies, it is an inhabitant, so that it is at home in three quarters of 

 the globe, and may be in four. 



It is common in this country almost everywhere, frequenting 

 the wooded districts chiefly, where there are plantations, thickets, 

 shrubberies, and tall hedges, there you will be pretty sure to find 

 Tom with the long tail, and this is the case in Scotland, Ireland, and 

 Wales, as well as England. 



And what is he like, this ubiquitous Tom Tit? Well, he is not a 

 gay bird as to colour, but a very pretty bird for all that; his plumage 

 is soft and downy, and is much puffed out, so that he looks larger 

 than he really is, his whole weight being not above two drachms, 

 so that he might be sent in a letter for a penny stamp, if it 

 were not for the danger of his getting smothered and crushed. 

 Black, and white, and brown, flushed at places with a rich red, are 

 the chief colours of his plumage; these colours fade one into the 



