THE BEARDED TIT. BIRDS. THE WHITE-EYED WARBLER. 



327 



crest of black and white feathers, is found principally 

 in fir woods, both in this country and on the continent. 

 The exotic species of the genus resemble the preceding 

 in their habits, and need not be specially alluded to. 



THE LONG-TAILED TIT (Mecistura caudata) Plate 

 10, fig. 32 is an abundant and generally distributed 

 bird in Britain, where, like its allies, it haunts the 

 woods, hedges, and gardens in search of insect food, 

 to which it appears to restrict itself more decidedly 

 than some of the preceding species. It is readily dis- 

 tinguished from them by its long and graduated tail. 

 This bird also differs from the other Tits in its mode 

 of nidification ; its nest being a neat and comfortable 

 structure, firmly placed amongst the branches of a thick 

 bush, composed of moss and wool, thickly lined with 

 soft feathers, and adorned externally with fragments 

 of white lichens, which give it an elegant appearance. 

 It is of an oval form, snugly domed over at the top, 

 and with a single opening rather high up on one side 

 for the entrance of the bird. 



THE BEAEDED TIT ( Calamophilus biarmicus), unlike 

 the other Tits, resides amongst the reeds and sedges 

 which fringe our rivers, lakes, and ponds. Its food 

 consists partly of insects and seeds, and partly of the 

 small shelled mollusca which abound in the vicinity 

 of water ; it is provided with a muscular gizzard by 

 which the shells of these animals are speedily broken 

 up. Its nest is built amongst the sedges near the 

 ground. 



THE BLUE-EYED YELLOW WARBLER (Mniotilta 

 cestiva) is an example of a considerable group of the 

 family of Warblers, which possesses a certain resem- 

 blance in habits to the creepers. This bird is a common 

 species in the United States of America, where it is a 

 summer visitor, arriving in the middle states early in 

 May, and departing in September. It retires for the 

 winter to the West Indies, and the tropical parts of 

 South America. The plumage is greenish-yellow 

 above, golden-yellow beneath, with the breast streaked 

 with dark red ; the bill and eyelids are blue. It is an 

 active and familiar bird, which is seen in the gardens 

 and shrubberies creeping about with sprightly move- 

 ments upon the fruit-trees and bushes in search of its 

 food, which consists principally of small green cater- 

 pillars. Its nest is neatly made of flax or tow, on a 

 forked branch, and lined with hair and vegetable down. 

 THE WORM-EATING WARBLER (Mniotilta vermi- 

 vord). Besides the preceding, numerous species of 

 the group to which it belongs are found in America, 

 and of these the Worm-eating Warbler is, like it, a 

 summer visitor to the United States. It is an exceed- 

 ingly active and sprightly bird, and feeds upon small 

 caterpillars and spiders. 



THE WHITE-EYED WARBLER (Zoster ops palpebrosus), 

 is a common East Indian species, nearly allied to the 

 two preceding. It migrates from the plains to the 

 mountains at the approach of the hot season, ascend- 

 ing to a considerable elevation, and feeding partly 



Fig. 110. 



The Pied Wagtail (Motacilla Yarrellii,). 



trpon insects which it captures in the flowers, and 

 partly on the small black berries of a species of Eham- 

 nus. The nest of this bird is described by Captain 

 Hutton as being suspended by means of silk from two 



thin twigs of a tree, composed of the same materia. 

 with moss, cotton, and other vegetable matters, and 

 lined with hair, the silk being used to bind the other 

 materials together; the whole forming a little oval cup, 



