458 THE LONG -TAILED TIT. 



places the Long-tailed Tit, of which bird BECHSTEIN makes no 

 mention. As, however, it is with us a common species, and 

 as capable of domestication as either of the other Tits, and, 

 moreover, an extremely beautiful and interesting bird; we 

 think it ought to be included here. MACGILLIVEAY makes it 

 the only British type of a separate genus, which he calls Me- 

 cistura, or Mufflin, and gives the following distinctive marks 

 " Tail very long, plumage extremely soft and tufty ; head, 

 throat, and breast white; a broad band over the eye; the 

 nape and the back, black ; scapulars reddish, tail black, the 

 three lateral feathers on each side externally white. Young, 

 duller, without red on the scapulars. 



" This singular-looking bird, the most diminutive of our 

 British species, except the Kinglets, is generally distributed 

 in the wooded and cultivated districts. Its habits are similar 

 to those of the Tits, with which it occasionally associates ; but 

 it differs from them in attaching to the branches its nest, which 

 is of an oblong form, composed of moss and lichens, lined with 

 feathers, and having a small aperture near the top. The eggs 

 are numerous, from six to seven twelfths long, and about five 

 twelfths in breadth ; white, generally marked with numerous 

 faint red dots at the larger end. I have seen a nest, in which 

 were sixteen young ones." 



The Long-tailed Mufflin is the name by which this author 

 distinguishes the bird ; it has also several popular local titles, 

 such as the Long-tailed Mag, Huck-muck, Poke-pudding, 

 Mum-ruffin, Bottle Tom, Bottle Tit, the two last having 

 reference to the shape of its nest, which is indeed a curious 

 and elaborate structure, bearing some rude resemblance to a 

 bottle in shape. RENNIE calls it " the most artfully con- 

 structed nest of any of our British birds," and quotes the 

 descriptions given of it by DERHAM and ALDROVANDI, which 

 in the main appear to be correct. 



According to NEVILLE WOOD, this species, unlike most of 

 the other British Tits, is entirely insectivorous, being never 

 observed to feed on carrion of any kind. It seeks its insect 

 prey among the branches and foliage of trees, with the same 

 assiduity as its congeners, hanging on the under sides of the 

 twigs, and frequently running up and down on the branches 

 in the same manner as the Gold-Crested Kinglet. Sometimes 



