BRITISH BIRDS. 2OJ 



THE CRESTED TITMOUSE. 



(Pants CristatitS) Linn. Mcsangc huppcc, Temm.) 



THIS shy and solitary species is rather more 

 than four inches and a half in length. It is dis- 

 tinguished from the rest of the genus by having its 

 head ornamented with a peaked crest of black 

 feathers, narrowly margined with white; those 

 between the crest and the brow are of the same 

 colours, but the white greatly predominates. The 

 bill and irides are dusky ; the cheeks and sides of 

 the head and neck dull white; the chin, and fore 

 part of the neck to the breast, black: from thence 

 a line of the same branches off, and bounding the 

 white part of the neck, extends to the hinder part 

 of the head; the auriculars, with the exception of 

 a white spot in the middle, are black, and form a 

 patch, which is pointed off towards the nape; the 



