104 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



nest pushed aside to one corner without disturbing the bird, who 

 did not seem at all put about by the daily intrusion of the letters; 

 but like other pets, it had been too good to live, as one unlucky 

 morning the poor bird was found dead in the box, having been 

 crushed by the weight of a newspaper. The result of an inquest 

 in this case would probably have been a verdict that the Tit had 

 succumbed to the pressure of the Times. 



A specimen of this bird the only Tit yet noticed in Orkney 

 was procured at Kirkwall in 1845, and Dr Saxby includes it in 

 his list of the birds of Shetland. 



THE CRESTED TIT. 

 PARUS CRISTATUS. 



THE only breeding places in Scotland for this, perhaps the most 

 local of all the British tits, appear to be confined to the counties 

 of Moray, Ross, and Inverness. Its distribution in winter arid 

 spring is somewhat more extended, as specimens have been ob- 

 tained as far south as Perth. Dr Saxby has informed me that he 

 saw a number of these birds in February frequenting a group of 

 Scotch firs near Edinburgh, about six years ago, and that he also 

 saw two early in April, 1858, in the woods at Blair-Drummond, 

 in Perthshire. In Macgillivray's " British Birds," mention is made 

 of a specimen that was shot in 1838, near Barcaldine House, 

 Argyleshire, the only one I have heard of being found in any of 

 the western counties, except that referred to by Dr Smith (who 

 exhibited the bird) at a meeting of the Royal Physical Society 

 of Edinburgh, held in January, 1857; it had been taken some 

 years previously in the neighbourhood of Dumbarton, in a glen 

 popularly known as Lot's Wife's Glen, so called from an ancient 

 standing stone having suggested a certain incident in Scripture 

 history. 



In some seasons this bird is much more plentiful than in others, 

 but it is doubtful if the increase in any particular year can be 

 attributed to a natural extension of its distribution; it probably 

 arises from the arrival of migratory flights from other countries. 



Sir William Jardine states, in his " Birds of Great Britain," that 

 Lieutenant Chauner had informed him " that he had several times 

 seen the bird brought fresh into Glasgow, killed in a plantation of 



