THE GREAT TIT, OX-EYE, OR TOMTIT 37 



Hack-muck, Bottle Tom, Mum-ruffin, and Long-pod, pet names 

 though they are, are also whimsical, and prepare one beforehand 

 for the information that their owner is ' just a little eccentric '. 

 But whatever be their name, I never hear the well-known ' zit, 

 zit ', the pass-word which keeps them together, and which always 

 accompanies their journeyings, without stopping to watch the little 

 family on their flight. 



The nest of this species is of most exquisite workmanship and 

 beautiful texture. Its form is that of a large cacoon broadest at 

 the base, or that of a fir cone. It is sometimes fastened to the 

 stem of a tree, sometimes placed in a fork, but more frequently 

 built into the middle of a thick bush, so that it can only be re- 

 moved by cutting away the branches to which it is attached. The 

 outer surface is composed principally of the white lichen which 

 is most abundant in the neighbourhood, and so is least likely to 

 attract attention. All the scraps are woven together with threads 

 of fine wool ; the dome is felted together, and made rain-proof 

 by a thick coating of moss and lichen, wool and the web of spiders' 

 eggs. The walls are of moss. The interior is a spherical cell, lined 

 with a profusion of feathers. A softer or warmer bed it would 

 be hard to imagine. At the distance of about an inch from the 

 top is a circular opening scarcely large enough to admit one's 

 thumb. In this luxurious couch, which it has cost the female 

 bird some three weeks of patient industry to complete, she lays 

 ten or twelve eggs, which all in good time are developed into as 

 many Bottle Tits ; but by what skilful management the ten or 

 twelve long tails are kept unruffled, and are finally brought to 

 light as straight as arrows, I can offer no opinion. Nests are 

 occasionally found containing as many* as eighteen eggs. In these 

 cases it has been affirmed that two or more females share a common 

 nursery, and incubate together. Certainly it is difficult to imagine 

 how a single pair can manage to supply with food so many 

 hungry young birds, but there is no direct evidence of their being 

 two distinct broods. 



THE GREAT TIT, OX-EYE OR TOMTIT 



PARUS MAJOR 

 Head, throat, and a line passing down the centre of the breast, black ; back 

 olive-green ; cheeks and a spot on the nape white ; breast and abdomen 

 yellow. Length six inches ; breadth nine. Eggs white, speckled with 

 light rusty. 



As this bird is no larger than a Sparrow, its surname ' Great ' 

 must be understood to denote only its superiority in size to other 



