SYLVIAD^E. 67 



old walls are its usual resort for building ; and grass, moss, 

 hair, and feathers, its materials. The eggs, from eight to 

 fourteen or sixteen, are, previously to blowing, pinkish- 

 white, afterwards white, with many red spots. (PI. X. tig. 66.) 



THE GREATER TITMOUSE. Parus major. This is to 

 our view a really handsome bird, and one which we always 

 see with pleasure, notwithstanding its amorous ditty, which 

 has been most truthfully likened to the noise produced 

 by the sharpening of a saw. Some suitable hollow in an 

 aged or decayed tree is selected for the nest, which consists 

 of moss, hair, and feathers. The eggs, from seven or eight 

 to ten or twelve, are pinkish-white spotted, or slightly 

 blotched with red. (PL X. fig. 69.) 



THE COLE TITMOUSE. Parus ater. Like the two pre- 

 ceding species, this is also generally distributed in suitable 

 localities over the British Islands. Its manners closely 

 resemble those of the Blue Tit, but it builds at a less ele- 

 vation from the ground. About a fortnight since, in a walk, 

 we observed a Cole Tit with a feather in its mouth, and saw 

 it immediately descend to a hole in a decayed stump of ash. 

 After a few days we visited the spot, and found the nest 

 about a foot from the ground, in the hollow stump, almost 

 inaccessible, but thickly lined with the warmest substances, 



