420 INSECTIVOR.E. 



body is more slender in proportion than that of the other 

 tits; the first quill of the wings is nearly rudimental, and the 

 bill is orange-yellow, more pointed and conical than that of 

 the other tits, very slightly bent, and altogether more of a 

 graminivorous character. 



Its plumage is beautiful: head, nape, and breast, bright 

 bluish grey, paler and with a tinge of lilac on the chin and 

 throat ; hind part of the neck and back bright orange-brown, 

 paler on the scapulars; belly, sides, and thighs, like the back, 

 only a shade lighter. Quills dusky ; the inner webs of the 

 primaries white; the secondaries margined; and the tertia- 

 ries tipped with the same colour as the back. Tail the same 

 colour as the back, with white tips to three exterior feathers 

 on each side : vent feathers black. In the male bird, a tuft 

 of soft black feathers originates between the bill and eye, 

 and is pendant by the side of the neck, terminating in a 

 point ; the female has merely a dusky spot, in the place of 

 the tuft of produced feathers, and has the head mottled with 

 orange-brown and dusky. The nest is formed of the leaves 

 of reeds and aquatic grasses, and lined with the tops of the 

 same ; it is carefully hidden in the reeds, or, if the ground is 

 not solid enough there, in a tuft upon the margin. It has 

 not been ascertained that the bird has any song, but its single 

 note is more shrill and ringing than that of most of the 

 genus : it is one of the subjects which equally demand and 

 deserve farther observation. 



There are still remaining many miles of the marshy parts 

 of the country at home, of which wonderfully little is known, 

 because they are not inviting under any circumstances, and 

 very often they are not accessible. In summer they are not 

 firm enough for the foot, and one has some reluctance at 

 taking the chance of drowning, or even of sticking fast in the 

 foul water or fenny mire of a "deep bed of whispering reeds ;" 

 which are not ungraceful as they play in the wind, but they 



