TITMICE. 



325 









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The Titmice, or Tits (Panes), have a slender and very short beak. They 

 are extremely lively little birds, and may be constantly seen darting from 

 branch to branch in short flights, climbing and suspending themselves in all 

 sorts of positions, plucking the seeds upon which they feed. They also eat 

 many insects, and do not spare small birds when they find them enfeebled by 

 sickness or entangled in snares ; they may be often seen to pierce their skulls, 

 by repeated strokes of their beak, in order to devour the brains; they also 

 pick the bones to a 

 skeleton. In propor- 

 tion to their size, 

 which is very small, 

 these are the boldest 

 of all birds. They 

 attack owls fiercely. 

 Theymaketheirnests 

 in the hollows of old 

 trees, and lay more 

 eggs than any others 

 of the family. 



Dr. Macgillivray 

 records the observa- 

 tions of a friend on a 

 pair of blue titmice M 

 while rearing their 

 young. The parent 

 birds began their la- 

 bour of love at half- 

 past three o'clock in 



Ssn&STLS f;aHra ! '^Kffi- 



eight o'clock in the v* 

 evening, after being 

 almost incessantly 

 engaged for eighteen 

 hours, during which 

 time they returned to 

 their nest 475 times, 



flying to and from a plantation more than 150 yards from their nest; some- 

 times they brought at each visit a single caterpillar, -sometimes two or three 

 small ones. The number of destructive insects thus killed, while birds are 

 feeding their young, must be astonishing. 



FIG. 352. LONG-TAILED TIT AND XEST. 



The Finches (Fringilld) are too well known to require de- 

 scription. They form an extensive family, embracing the Weavers, 

 the Linnets, the Goldfinches, the Chaffinches, the Canary, the Bull- 

 finch, tind other cage birds. 



The Crows (Corvus) have a large beak, straight at the base, curved towards 

 the point, and cutting at the edges ; then- nostrils are concealed by long hairs 

 directed forwards ; their toes are entirely divided, and their wings appear 

 clipped at their extremities. They live in troops, and are cunning and dis- 

 trustful ; they readily become familiar, and some of them may be taught to 



