The Bearded Tit.- 



-RIRDS.- 



-TlIE WllITE-EVED ^VAnnI.ER. 



327 



crest of black and wliite featliers, is found pvincip.illy 

 ill iir woods, botli iu tliis country and on tlie continent. 

 Tlie exotic species of the genus resemble the precoihug 

 in tlieir liabits, and need not be specially alluded to. 



THE LONG-TAILED TIT {Mtctstura candata)- Plato 

 10, li:^. 32 — is an abundant and generally distributed 

 bird in Britain, where, like its allies, it haunts the 

 woods, hedges, and gardens in search of insect food, 

 to which it a]ipears to restrict itself more decidedly 

 than some of the preceding species. It is readily dis- 

 tinguished from them by its long and gradnatcd tail. 

 I'his bird also dilTers from the other Tits in its mode 

 of nidilication ; its nest being a neat and comfortable 

 slnictme, firmly placed amongst the branches of a thick 

 bush, composed of moss and wool, thickly lined with 

 soft feathers, and adorned externally with fragments 

 of white lichens, which give it an elegant appearance. 

 It is of an oval form, snugly domed over at the top, 

 and with a single opening rather high up on one side 

 for the entrance of the bird. 



THE BEARDED TIT {Ca/amophilusbiarmkus), unlike 

 the other Tits, resides amongst the reeds and sedges 

 wliich fringe our rivers, lakes, and ponds. Its food 

 consists partly of insects and seeds, and partly of the 

 small shelled raollusca which abound in the vicinity 

 iif water ; it is provided with a muscular gizzard by 

 which the shells of these animals are speedily broken 

 up. Its nest is built amongst the sedges near the 

 ground. 



THE BLUE-EYED YELLOW WAEBLEE {Mniotilta 

 cesliva) is an example of a consiilerable gronp of tho 

 family of Warblers, which possesses a certain resem- 

 blance in habits to the creepers. This bird is a common 

 species in the United States of America, where it is a 

 summer visitor, arriving in the middle states early in 

 May, and departing in September. It retires for the 

 ivinter to the West Indies, and the troi)ical parts of 

 South America. The plumage is greenish-yellow 

 above, golden-yellow beneath, with the breast streaked 

 with dark red ; the bill and eyelids are blue. It is an 

 active and lamiliar bird, which is seen in the gardens 

 and shrubberies creeping about with sprightly move- 

 ments upon tho fruit-trees and bushes in search of its 

 food, which consists principally of small green cater- 

 pillars. Its nest is neatly made of flax or tow, on a 

 forked branch, and lined willi hair and vegetable down. 

 THE WOEM-EATLNG WAEBLEE {Mniotilla vcrmi- 

 vara). — Besides the preceding, numerous species of 

 the gronp to which it belongs are found in America, 

 and of these the Worm-eating Warbler is, like it, a 

 summer visitor to the United States. It is an exceed- 

 ingly active and sprightly bird, and feeds upon small 

 caterpillars and spiders. 



THE WHITE-EYED WAEBLEE (2bs<CTY;;)s;)(r(//)firo6»s), 

 is a common East Indian species, nearly allied to the 

 two preceding. It migrates from the plains to the 

 mountains at tho approach of the hot season, ascend- 

 ing to a considerable elevation, and feeding partly 



The Pied Wagtail (Motacilla Yan-ellii;. 



upon insects which it captures in the flowers, and 

 partly on the small black berries of a species of Rham- 

 vus. The nest of this bird is described by Captain 

 lluttou as being suspended by means of silk from two 



thin twigs of a tree, composed of the same materia, 

 with moss, cotton, and other vegetable matters, and 

 lined with hair, the silk being used to bind the other 

 materials together; the whole forming a little oval cup, 



