PLATE I 

 LONG-TAILED TIT. Acredula caudata 



May \-]tli, 1895. This nest was photographed in a small wood close to the 

 river Teith, near Callander, Perthshire. I was watching a Wood Wren to see 

 if I could find its nest when I saw two Long-tailed Tits fly past, each with 

 something in its bill. I hurried after them, and saw them disappear into a 

 fir-tree, where I lost sight of them ; in a few minutes I heard them again on 

 the other side of the tree, but they flew away just as I got round. I waited 

 there a few minutes, and they came back and alighted on a small juniper 

 bush, into which they flew one at a time; I went up to it and there was the 

 nest. It was most beautifully built of moss and hair, and was covered all 

 over with cobwebs and little bits of lichens, and lined with feathers, chiefly 

 those of the cock-pheasant. 



The nest contained nine young birds, which could not have been hatched 

 more than two or three days, and the old birds were very busy feeding them. 

 After I had taken a couple of photos of the nest, I sat down and watched 

 the two old birds for nearly half an hour, during which time they each arrived 

 with food eleven times, and always together, though one often left the 

 nest before the other was ready to go. One would suppose that this would 

 become monotonous, but the little birds seemed to be quite happy, and flew 

 about collecting food for the young ones, continually calling to each other, 

 and sometimes chasing each other round and round the trees. While feeding 

 the young birds the old one disappeared right into the nest, and stayed in it 

 for about half a minute. 



The chief article of food seemed to be a small green fly found on the 

 under side of the birch leaves, as the birds were very busy in these trees, 

 hanging upside down and searching the under side of each leaf; they ap- 

 peared to collect quite a mouthful of flies before returning to the nest, and 

 always waited for each other. 



