THE LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE. 289 



Curious construction of its nest. 



the breast and belly are white, interspersed with 

 small dusky spots. The tail is very long, and 

 shaped like that of the magpie; the shafts of 

 some of the outer feathers white, and some few 

 of the tips of the same colour. The legs and 

 feet black. This bird flies very swiftly ; from its 

 slender shape, and the great length of its tail, it 

 seems like a dart shooting through the air. It is 

 almost constantly in motion, running up and 

 down the branches of trees with great facility. 



Mr. Derham, in his Physico Theology, takes 

 the following notice of the artful nest which this 

 bird forms: 



" Among many instances," he says, " that 

 might be given of the subtilty of birds, and other 

 creatures, that of the long-tailed titmouse de- 

 serves observation, who with great art builds her 

 nest with moss, hair, and the web of spiders cast 

 out from them when they take their flight, with 

 which the other materials are strongly tied toge- 

 ther. Having neatly built, and covered her nest 

 with these materials, without she thatcheth it on 

 the top with the muscus arboreus ramosus, or such 

 like broad whitish moss, to keep out rain, and to 

 dodge the spectator's eye : and within she listeth 

 it with a great number of soft feathers; so many, 

 that I confess 1 could not but admire how so 

 small a room could hold them, especially that 

 they could be laid so close and handsomely toge- 

 ther, to afford sufficient room for a bird with so 



VOL. in.- NO. xxn. 2 N 



