66 NATURAL HISTORY. 



back, whereas the British bird (Par us britannicus) has the back olive-coloured. The Long-tailed 

 Titmouse of Sweden and Germany (Acred til a caudata of Linnaeus) always has a pure white head, 

 while in the familiar species of Great Britain (Acredula vagans) only the top of the head is white, 

 bordered with a broad black stripe on each side. 



THE GREAT TITMOUSE, OK OX-EYE (Farm major). 



This is the largest species of the family found in the British Islands, and is by no means such a 

 sociable bird as the Blue Tit, being generally seen in pairs, and seldom consorting, as does the last- 

 named species, with Creepers, Nuthatches, and other Titmice, which form little parties in the winter 

 and go through the woods in company. It is a very active bird, and its loud notes, which are 

 syllabled by Macgillivray as a harsh chatter, " Chir-r-r-r-r-ik," are sure to command attention from 

 any one walking in the woods.* " In spring and the early part of summer its notes bear some resem- 

 blance to the sounds produced by a tile in sharpening the teeth of a saw, and may be syllabled into 

 tee-ta, tee-ta, tee-ta, tee-ta. They are very loud for a bird of so small a size, and may be heard 

 distinctly in calm weather at the distance of eight hundred paces. Its spring notes, Mr. Hepburn 

 writes to ma, are first heard about the beginning of March, and continued till the middle of May. 

 In April, 1839, I pursued one of these birds through a narrow plantation. The first note I heard 

 was that of chur-r-r, then ckir-r-r ; it then imitated very exactly the twink of the Chaffinch, the 

 alarm notes of the Robin and Wren, and the doleful ditty of the Yellow Banting ; next it produced 

 a note of its own, which it repeated incessantly as it sported amongst the boughs of an old ash ; then 

 it seemed to forget this note, and emitted another, which also was soon forgotten ; and again, as if 

 tired of its own compositions, it essayed those of its more musical brethren. This Titmouse was 

 a great nuisance to me when I began to study ornithology, often leading me astray by its silly 

 productions, which I thought were the notes of some bird new to me." Like all the species 

 of the genus Parus, the Great Titmouse nests in the hole of a tree or of a wall, excavating in the 

 former case the cavity itself. The eggs are sometimes deposited on rotten wood, but the nest is 

 generally composed of grass or moss, above which is a soft bed of hair, wool, or feathers ; but 

 occasionally it becomes a very massive structure, as may be gathered from the following account given 

 by Mr. Stevenson in his " Birds of Norfolk" : "The most extraordinary nest of this species that I 

 ever saw or read of was discovered in a plantation at Earlham in the summer of 1859. This natural 

 curiosity, which is carefully preserved in the collection of Mr. John Gurney, of Earlham Hall, was 

 discovered in a rough corner cupboard, fixed at one end of an old shepherd's house erected in a 

 plantation for the use of the gamekeeper. In the centre of the cupboard was a single shelf; and the 

 door being kept shut, the pair of Titmice could only obtain access through a small hole in the wood- 

 work above. Through this opening, however, the enormous amount of materials found must have 

 been introduced bit by bit, until the centre space between the shelf and the top of the cupboard, 

 leaving only just room enough for the hen bird to sit, was filled with a compact mass of twigs, moss, 

 bents, feathers, rabbits' down, horsehair, wood, and even flowering grasses. Moss formed, of course, 

 the chief substance employed ; yet so wonderfully had the whole fabric been woven together that, 

 when taken from the shelf upon which it was erected, it retained the exact shape of the three- 

 cornered cupboard, the sides being as firm and neat as a well-kept grass edging levelled with a roller. 

 The following dimensions of this remarkable structure will best give an idea of the skill and labour 

 thus strangely devoted to it by its untiring architects. Length in front 15 inches, height 9 inches, 

 depth from front to back, measured to the angle of the cupboard, 10 inches. In the centre of the 

 upper part was a depression, in which the eggs were laid ; and here, in spits of frequent intrusions 

 from curious visitors, the hen bird being even handled on her nest, these little creatures reared 

 five young ones and carried them off in safety. A similar nest, commenced in the previous spring, 

 was unfortunately destroyed ; but since the successful completion of the one above mentioned no 

 further attempt has been made to repeat so formidable a task." 



The Great Titmouse is about five inches and a half in length. The head, throat, and centre of the 

 body are black, with a large white patch occupying the ear-coverts and the region below the eye ; the 



* Macgillivray: "British Birds," p. 428. 



