THE COLE-TIT. 395 



to the nape ; and the black on the throat is much narrower, 

 so that it is visible only in certain positions. In the cole-tit 

 the head is rather flattened on the crown, while that of the 

 marsh species is a full and remarkably graceful curve. The 

 other colours are equally different, but there is sufficient to 

 distinguish the species both in the males and the females, as 

 the sexes differ little from each other in their plumage. 



The cole -tit sings, and the marsh one is comparatively 

 silent, or at least only chatters. The song of the cole-tit is 

 not indeed one of many notes, or of mellifluous inflexions ; it 

 is little else than the same note repeated four or five times, 

 but with so much variety of pitch and tune as to form a sort 

 of cadence, which would make a good variety anywhere, as it 

 is shrill and clear, and one which is particularly welcome and 

 cheering in those mountain woods which the summer warblers 

 but rarely visit. The bird sings in the noontide heat, when 

 most birds, and especially those *on the open wastes, with 

 which the haunts of this species are usually interspersed, are 

 silent. While the cole-tit is singing away in the plantation 

 of half-grown pines, often heard, but seldom seen, the marsh 

 species may be seen flitting about among the long and fragrant 

 broom which often grows thick in the neighbourhood ; but 

 as the one is heard while the other is seen, that causes them 

 to be sometimes confounded. 



As the cole-tit is found, though in very different degrees 

 of abundance, in most wooded parts of the country, and (to 

 my observation) least plentifully in the richer and more 

 humid districts, it is not easy to say what description of 

 woodland is its favourite locality. I should feel inclined to 

 say, in fir plantations, upon places that are rather elevated 

 and dry, and while the trees are so young as to be closely 

 branched nearly to the ground, or on the outskirts of the 

 natural forests, where the trees are more apart than in the 



