2^8 HISTOUY OF 



as it soars, until it seems lost in tbe immense heights above us; 

 the note continuing, the bird itself unseen; to see it then de- 

 scending with a swell as it comes from the clouds, yet sinking 

 by degrees as it approaches its nest, the spot where all its affec- 

 tions are centered, the spot that has prompted all this joy. 



like the nuthatches, with which they sometimes seem to assoriatc during 

 the winter. If a nut be suspended at the end of a string, they will hook 

 'themselves to it, and follow all its oscillations without letting- go, and keep 

 Incessantly picking at it. Such manoeuvres indicate miicli strength in the 

 muscles; it has accordingly been observed that the bill is moved by very 

 rebust and vigorous muscles and ligaments, as well as the neck, and that 

 the cranium is remarkably thick. They will eat not only grains, but in- 

 sects, as above hinted, and butterfly-eggs, and peck the growing buds. The 

 largest species (the great titmouse) joins to its other aliments bees, and 

 even little birds, if it finds them enfeebled by illness, or entangled in snares, 

 but it usually eats only the head. 



Almost all the species of titmice are very productive, even more so than 

 any other birds, in proportion to their size ; their brood is said sometimes 

 to consist of eighteen or twenty eggs. Some make their nests in the trunks 

 of trees, others on shrubs, and give it the form of a ball, of a volume great- 

 ly disproportioned to their size ; some suspend it at the end of a branch, in 

 reeds or rushes. The materials which they employ are small plants, little 

 roots, moss, flax, cattle hair, wool, the down of plants, cotton, and featliers ; 

 they tend their numerous family with the most indefatigable zeal and acti- 

 vity, are very much attached to it, and defend it ^vith courage against the 

 birds which attack it. Tliey rush on the enemy with such intrepidity as to 

 force him to respect their weakness. 



The titmice are extended over the old continent, from the north to the 

 south of Europe, through Africa, India, and China : they are also foimd in 

 North America, but are as yet unknown in the southern part of that con- 

 tinent. Within a few years, several have been discovered in New Hoi- 

 land. 



Among the titmice, those ^^•hich are most easily caught in snares, &r. 

 are the great, the black, and blue-headed species ; the crested, the long, 

 tailed, the bearded, and the penduline are not so easily managed. There 

 are plenty of modes employed, with success, for the destruction cf these lit- 

 tie birds, the details of which would involve but little interest for our read. 

 ers. Those who keep bees are very sufficiently justified, however, in de- 

 stroying the titmice, as the latter wage a very cruel war upon these useful 

 insects, particularly when they have young ones. 



The Buntings (Emberiza) are distinguished from other passerine birds, 

 principally by their conical, short, and straight bill, and by the addition of a 

 knob in the roof of the upper mandible, wliich is made use of by the bird 

 as an anvil on which to break and comminute its food. This apparatus 19 

 eurlicient to lead the observing naturalist per saltern, as it were, to the con. 

 elusion that this genus of birds must be gi-auivorous. It is true. Indeed, that 

 very many birds are enabled to crack and open nuts and hard seeds, without 

 the aid of that extra provision with wliich the buntings are furnished : and 

 this is one of the countless instances wliich might be adduced to display the 



