274 THE OXEYE, OK GREATER TIT. 



villages and barns, around which these birds may be caught, in as great 

 numbers as yellowhammers. They are generally seen on the ground, 

 running as swiftly as the wagtail, and will sometimes hop on stones, but 

 rarely perch on trees. 



They feed on seeds and insects, and in the house they should be given 

 bruised hemp-seed, poppy-seed, white bread, and ants' eggs. On this food 

 they may be preserved for several years. Their eong is sweet, but sad and 

 melancholy ; their attitudes are graceful, and often when they hop they 

 flutter their wings and tail. They build on the ground or in clefts of 

 rocks, which has given them the name of rock larks *. 



THE OXEYE, OR GREATER TIT f. 



Parus major, LINN^IUS ; La grosse Mesange, ou Charbonniere, BUKFON ; Die 

 Kohlmeise, B ECKSTEIN. 



THIS well-known bird is five inches and five-sixths in length, 

 of which the tail measures two and a half. The beak is black- 

 ish, conical, firm, pointed, and without slope, as are the beaks 

 of the other tits ; the iris is dark brown ; the shanks are nine 

 lines high, and lead blue ; the claws are sharp, and adapted for 

 climbing; the upper part of the head is of a brilliant black, 

 which is joined to the black of the throat by a line of the same 

 colour that borders and sets off the white of the cheeks and 

 temples; the nape is greenish yellow, with some mixture of 

 white ; the back is fine olive, and the rump pale ash grey ; the 

 breast and belly are a yellowish green, divided lengthways by 

 a black line. 



The female is smaller, the black on the head and the yellow 

 on the nape are less bright ; the line that runs down the belly 

 is narrower and shorter, at least it is lost at the part where in 

 the male it is widest ; this marks the difference between young 

 males and females, which are alike in other respects. 



* It is difficult to decide to what genus this species belongs ; it has the character- 

 istics of several. Its size, habit, food , mixed insects and seeds, even its pace, for 

 when on the ground it rarely hops like the warblers, but runs quickly head forwards, 

 like the quails, scarcely ever resting on trees ; in all this it bears a relation to the 

 larks. Now as there are larks that appear to form the link between that genus and 

 the warblers, the Alpine warbler may be said to form one also between the warblers 

 and the larks. TRANSLATOR. 



t It is calkd Joe Bent by the London bird-catchers. TRANSLATOR. 



