THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 411 



fully better than we can do, with the naked eye, at the dis- 

 tance which answers to a power of eight. When we reflect 

 upon these adaptations, we may cease to wonder that the 

 work itself excels our art. 



In the early part of the season, the male of these birds has 

 a weak, but not an unpleasant song ; but when the season 

 has advanced so far that its labours are in vigorous pro- 

 gress, there is little leisure for singing. While the nest is 

 building, the birds have barely time to feed ; and when the 

 eggs are laid, the one sits while the other feeds, the male 

 going out first in the morning, and the female last at night. 

 The eggs vary in number, from eight or ten to twelve or 

 fifteen, of a clear white ground, more or less marked (but 

 always sparingly) with small red specks towards the thick 

 ends j but they appear of a pink colour when held up against 

 the light : they are not much larger than peas. Unless the 

 eggs are removed and the feathers carefully examined, the 

 total number is not easily discovered, as they are always in 

 part buried in the soft lining of the nest. 



When the young are fledged, they continue for the re- 

 mainder of the season together, and with the parent birds ; 

 and in the cold weather they roost for the night all huddled 

 together on the same tw%, and, indeed, seldom quit the 

 bushes even at that season. The latter circumstance has led 

 some to conclude that they are migratory, which, however, 

 does not appear to be generally the case, though they may, 

 under certain circumstances, shift their ground. They are 

 birds of rich and rather humid situations, where the seasons 

 are mild, and small insects abound in summer, and their eggs 

 in winter, and where the foliage is close during the former 

 season, and the leafless sprays thick during the latter. Their 

 peculiar form, their diminutive size, their lively action, their 

 laborious lives, their beautiful nests, the number of their 

 broods, and their strong and lasting family attachments, 



