British Birds, their Nests and Eggs. 133 



she has still continued to sit on her eggs, hatch 

 them, and rear her brood. With equal per- 

 sistence will this species year after year use as 

 a nursery the same hole, and a remarkable in- 

 stance of this kind is on record. In 1779, 

 according to one account, in 1785, according 

 to another, it is said that a pair of these birds 

 built their nest in a large earthenware bottle 

 which had been left to drain in the branches 

 of a tree in a garden at Oxbridge, in the town- 

 ship of Hartburn, near Stockton-on-Tees, and 

 safely hatched their young. The bottle having 

 been allowed to remain in the same position by the 

 occupiers of the farm, then and still la family 

 of the name of Callendar, was frequented for 

 the same purpose and with a like result, until 

 1822, when, the tree becoming decayed, the 

 bottle was placed in one near by, and the 

 tenancy continued until 1851. In that year the 

 occupiers of the farm omitted drawing out the 

 old nest, as had been the constant practice 

 before the breeding season, and in consequence 

 the birds chose another place ; but in 1852 they 

 returned to the bottle, and have annually built 

 in it, or in a second bottle, which has lately 

 been placed close by it, up to the present year, 

 ^73, with the exception of one season, when 

 a pair of great titmice took possession of their 

 inheritance. The intruders were shot, and the 

 tenancy, it is hoped, will not be again disturbed." 



