TITS, OR TITMICE. 17 



which is a native of Europe, being abundant in Holland, France, and 

 [taly; it is also found in Asia, on the borders of the Black and 

 Caspian Seas, and many other places. It is known in many of the 

 English counties, but only as a rare bird; no specimen has been 

 taken in Scotland, and only one in Ireland. It delights in marshy 

 situations, where there are plenty of reeds, among which it feeds upon 

 seeds and insects. It is very quick and active, like the other mem- 

 bers of its family, climbing up to the tops of the reeds, and dropping 

 to the roots if disturbed, and then creeping up again in that stealthy 

 mouse-like manner which all the Tits have, and on which account 

 they have probably been called Titmice. Their flight is in general 

 only sufficiently high to clear the summits of the reeds, out of the 

 shelter of which they do not often venture, except in winter, when 

 they take a wider range, generally in small flocks of two or three 

 families. 



A very pretty and graphic picture of their habits is given by a 

 contributor to Loudon's "Magazine of Natural History;" he had been 

 observing the motions of a flock of them, and says: "They were 

 just topping the reeds in their flight, and uttering in full chorus 

 their sweetly musical note; it may be compared to the music of very 

 small cymbals, is clear an'd ringing, though soft, and corresponds well 

 with the delicacy and beauty of the form and colour of the birds. 

 Several flocks were seen during the morning. Their flight was short 

 and low, only sufficient to clear the reeds, on the seedy tops of which 

 they alight to feed, hanging like most of their tribe with the head 

 or back downwards. If disturbed, they immediately descend by 

 running, or rather by dropping. Their movement is rapid along the 

 stalks at the bottom, where they creep and flit, perfectly concealed 

 from view by the closeness of the covert and the resembling tints 

 of their plumage." These tints we may here add, are chiefly fawn 

 and delicate grey, lighted up with yellow gleams, and flushes of pink 

 and salmon-colour, shaded with orange brown and black, and relieved 

 with white edgings and markings a very beautiful combination of 

 tints. This is the Bearded Tit remember; he has no silky crest, like 

 his brother cristaius, but he has a jet black moustache extending from 

 his orange-coloured bill along between it and the eye; these black 

 feathers he can swell out when excited so as to look very fierce, but 

 he is really nothing of the sort, only a timid little creature, that hides 

 away as much as it can, and would much rather fly than fight at 

 any time. It makes its nest, generally towards the end of April, in 

 mild seasons sometimes earlier, of dry stalks and blossoms of grass, 

 reeds, and sedges, on the ground amid grass tufts, and the coarse 



