LONG-TAILED TIT. 377 



turn vagans applied to it. It is to be regretted that the 

 generic characters, and the reasons which induced so ex- 

 cellent a zoologist to make the separation in this instance, 

 as well as in many others, at least as far I am aware, 

 were never published. Other naturalists appear to coin- 

 cide with Dr. Leach in the propriety of this division. M. 

 Brehm, in his work on the Birds of Germany, published 

 in 1831, considers the Long-tailed Tit entitled to generic 

 distinction, and has used the term Paroides for it, ap- 

 parently unaware of the name previously given by Dr. 

 Leach. The Prince of Musignano, also, in his recently 

 published " Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and 

 North America," adopts for the Long- tailed Tit the ge- 

 neric term Mecistura. 



The Long-tailed Tit, as its name implies, has the tail 

 long and graduated ; three pair of the tail-feathers 

 not only differing from each other in length, but all of 

 them also shorter than the other three pair ; the legs 

 and toes rather long and slender ; the nest of the 

 most perfect kind, oval in shape, domed at the top, with 

 a small hole at the upper part of one side by which 

 access is gained to the chamber within ; the nest is 

 generally fixed in the midst of a thick bush ; the bird is 

 more decidedly insectivorous, and some other differences in 

 habits are observable. As, however, the genus Mecistura 

 of Dr. Leach has not been adopted by either of the authors 

 whose more recent ornithological works are referred to 

 and quoted at the head of each separate subject here, I 

 have included the Long-tailed Tit in the genus Parus. 



The Long- tailed Tit is a well-known and common spe- 

 cies, that may be seen generally wherever there are 

 woods, thickets, shrubberies, and tall hedges. It remains 

 in this country the whole year, and in its habits among 



