PLATE I 

 MARSH TITMOUSE. Parus palustris. 



May so///, 1896. This nest was built in a hole in the end post of an old 

 fence in Rothiemurchus Forest, Strathspey. I was looking for the nest 

 of the Crested Tit when I heard the well-known cry of the Marsh Tit. I 

 followed the bird for some distance through the wood, and was rewarded 

 by seeing it enter the hole at the top of the post ; on going up I found 

 that the nest was eight or nine inches from the mouth of the hole, and 

 right in the middle of the rotten post. There were seven young birds in 

 it, apparently about a week old. The old birds were very shy, and did not 

 come near the nest while I was there, though I heard their plaintive note 

 now and then among the tops of the fir-trees. 



I found another nest the same day in the dead branch of an alder- 

 tree ; it was fully twenty feet from the ground and quite inaccessible, as it 

 overhung a swampy piece of ground, and would not have carried any weight. 

 I heard the young birds chirping in the hole quite distinctly, and watched 

 the old birds going in and out through my glasses. They seemed to be 

 feeding the young birds on some kind of small white grub, possibly ant's 

 eggs. 



95 



