THE PENDULINE TITMOUSE. 205 



having picked a hole in the skull, eat out the brain. They are very 

 prolific, laying eighteen or twenty eggs at a time. Their voice is, in 

 general, unpleasant. 



THE PENDULINE TITMOUSE, AND CAPE TITMOUSE. 



These birds are about four inches and a half in length. The fore 

 part of the head is whitish, and the hind 

 part and the 'neck are ash -colored. The 

 upper parts of the plumage are grey ; the 

 forehead is black ; the throat and the front 

 of the neck are of a very pale ash-color; and 

 the rest of -the under parts are yellowish. 

 The quills and tail are brown, edged with 



In -the construction of their nests, the 

 Penduline or Bottle Titmice employ chiefly the light down of the wil- 

 low, the poplar, and the aspen; or of thistles, dandelions, and other 

 flowers. With their bill they entwine these filamentous substances, and 

 form a thick, close web, almost like cloth, this they fortify extevnally 

 with fibres and small roots, which penetrate into the texture, and in 

 some measure compose the basis of the nest. They line the inside 

 with down, but not woven, in order that their offspring may lie soft. 

 They close the nest above, for the purpose of confining the warmth 

 and they suspend it with hemp, nettles, &c., from th-e cleft of a small 

 pliant branch, (over some stream) that it may rock more gently, 

 assisted by the spring of the branch. In this situation the brood are 

 well supplied with insects, which constitute their chief food ; and 

 they are also thus protected from their enemies. The nest sometimes 

 resembles a bag, and sometimes a short purse. The aperture is mado 

 in the side, is nearly round, not more than an inch and a half in 

 diameter, and commonly surrounded by a brim more or less protu- 

 berant. 



These nests are seen in great numbers in the fens of Bologna, and 

 m those of Tuscany, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany. The peasants 

 regard them with superstitious veneration : one of them is' usually 

 paspended near the door of each cottage ; and the possessors esteem 

 it a defence against thunder, and its little architect is a sacred bird. 

 r ''he penduline Titmice frequent watery places, for the sake of aquatic 

 j > sects, on which they feed. 



The Cape Titmouse, constructs its nest of the down of a species of 

 asclepias. This luxurious nest is made of the 

 texture of flannel, and equals fleecy hosiery 

 in softness. Near the upper end projects a 

 small tube', about an inch in length, with an 

 orifice about three- fourths of an inch in 

 diameter. Immediately under the tube is a 

 small hole in the side, that has no cominuhica 

 tion with the interior of the nest; in this 

 hole, the male sits at night, and thus both male 

 THE CAPE TITMOUSE. and female are screened from the weather 



