158 ACREDULA 



In the summer it frequents woods and groves, and in 

 the autumn and winter it collects in family parties or small 

 flocks, and ranges about in the woods and in gardens utter- 

 ing, when on the wing, a continuous note, zi t zi, zi, but it 

 has no regular song. It feeds chiefly on small insects which it 

 obtains on the trees and bushes, but \vhen these are scarce it- 

 will eat small seeds. Its nest is one of the most artistic of that 

 of any of our birds, is oval in shape with a hole in the side 

 near the top, is constructed of green moss and lichens care- 

 fully worked together with spiders' webs and profusely lined 

 with feathers and hair. The eggs, which are deposited in May, 

 are dull white finely dotted with red, chiefly at the larger end, 

 and average in size about O53 by 0'42. In number they vary 

 from 6 to 8, 10 and even 16 or more. The nest is placed in a 

 bush or tree at altitudes varying from two or three to fifty feet 

 above the ground. 



Specimens from Siberia have the tail longer, varying from 

 3 '7 to 4'0 inch, and have been separated under the name of 

 A. macrura, Seebohm (Brit. B. 1, p. 487.) 



224. SUBSP. ACREDULA ROSEA. 



Acredula rosea, (Blyth), ed. White's Nat. Hist, of Selb. p. 111. footnote 

 (1836) ; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. ii. pi. 28, 29 ; Dresser, iii. p. 63, pi. 

 103; Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. viii. p. 61 ; Saunders, p. 101 ; A. 

 caudata, Hewitson, i. p. 158, pi. xl. fig. 2 ; Newton, i. p. 504 ; 

 Lilford, ii. p. 110, pi. 50 (partim). 



Codona, Ital. 



Ad. (Great Britain). Differs from A. caudata in having the middle 

 of the crown only white, bordered on each side by a broad black band 

 extending from the base of the bill over the eye and joining the black on 

 the nape ; under parts dull white slightly marked with brown on the 

 breast and sides of the neck ; bill and legs black ; iris brown, ring round 

 the eye orange-yellow. Culmen 0'3, wing 2'5, tail 3'6, tarsus 0'7 inch ; 

 sexes alike. 



Hob. The British Isles, and west central Europe to N. 

 Italy, where it meets Acredula irlii. 



In habits, note, food, and nidification the present species does 

 not differ from A. caudata. 



225. SUBSP. ACREDULA TRIVIRGATA 



Acredula trivirgata, (Temm. and Schlegel). -Faun. Jap. Aves. p. 60, 

 pi. 34 ; Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. viii. p. 62 ; Seebohm, B. Jap. Emp. 

 p. 87. 



