212 MAESH TIT. 



It has also a variety of chatters, a shrill cheep, and a 'twink.' 

 It may be heard even in the winter, if a mild season. 



Mr. Hewitson, on the authority of Montagu, says that 

 considerable pains is taken by this species in hollowing and 

 scooping out a suitable cavity for its nest, as it works, always 

 downwards, in forming a passage to a larger apartment at the 

 end. Montagu has observed it carrying away the chips to 

 some distance in its bill. The nest is described by the former 

 as being somewhat more carefully made than that of the other 

 Titmice. It is formed of moss, wool, grass, willow catkins, 

 horse-hair, and any other soft materials, and is placed in the 

 hollow of a tree, such as is afforded by the bead of a pol- 

 larded willow, whose decapitation has been followed, as a 

 necessary consequence, by decay. 



The eggs are from five to seven, or eight, nine, or even 

 twelve in number, of a rotund form, white, spotted with light 

 red, and most so at the thickest end, the other being free 

 from them: they are hatched in about thirteen days. The 

 young do not fly until the end of July, and even nests and 

 eggs have then been found, but it is possible that these may 

 have been second broods. 



Male; weight, a little under three drachms; length, four 

 inches and a half; bill, black; iris, dark brown; head on the 

 sides, greyish white, on the crown black, slightly tinged with 

 brown; neck, the same behind, greyish white on the sides, 

 and greyish black in front, the feathers tipped with greyish 

 white; chin, as the crown; throat, the same as the front of 

 the neck; breast, brownish white, with a tinge of yellow; 

 back, greyish brown tinged with green. Greater and lesser 

 wing coverts, as the back; primaries, dark brownish grey, 

 margined with yellowish grey; the first is half the length of 

 the second, which is about the same length as the ninth, the 

 fourth the longest, the fifth and sixth almost as long, and 

 nearly equal, the third equal to the seventh. Secondaries, the 

 same, but margined with yellowish brown; tertiaries, the 

 same; larger and lesser under wing coverts, brownish white; 

 tail, as the primaries, the outer feathers having the outer webs 

 paler; it is nearly even at the end; underneath it is brownish 

 white; upper tail coverts, as the back; legs, toes, and claws, 

 bluish black. 



The female only differs from the male in being more dull 

 in colour, especially in the black parts, which are more tinged 

 with brown. 



