THE GREAT TITMOUSE. 223 



two broods of young in the year, and when the nest is robbed, the mother bird often lays three 

 sets of rive eggs in the course of the season, of which she may think herself fortunate if she 

 succeeds in rearing one. 



The song of the Hedge Accentor is sweet, but not varied nor powerful, and has a peculiar 

 plaintive air about it. The bird is a persevering songster, continuing to sing throughout a 

 large portion of the year, and only ceasing during the time of the ordinary moult. Like many 

 other warbling birds, it possesses considerable powers of imitation, and can mock with some 

 success the greater number of British song-birds. 



This bird is nearly as bold as the sparrow, and will sometimes take up its residence in 

 cities, where it soon gains the precociously impertinent airs that characterize all town birds, 

 speedily loses the bright rich brown and gray of its plumage, and assumes as dingy a garb as 

 that of the regular city sparrow. 



The color of the Hedge Accentor is bluish-gray, covered with small brown streaks upon 

 the head and the back and sides of the neck. The back and wings are brown streaked with a 

 deeper tint of the same hue, and the quill-feathers of the wings and tail are of a rather darker 

 brown, and not quite so glossy. The chin, the throat, and upper part of the breast are gray, 

 and the lower part of the breast and the abdomen are white, with a wash of pale buff. The 

 legs and toes are brown, with a decided orange tinge, and the beak is dark brown. The total 

 length of the bird is nearly six inches. 



The Alpine Accentor (Accentor alpinus) is another European representative of this 

 group. 



The countries where this bird is usually found are Italy, France, Germany, and several 

 other parts of Europe. It is a mountain-loving bird, seldom descending to the level of the 

 plains except during the stormy mouths of winter. It can readily be distinguished from the 

 ordinary Accentor by the throat, which is white spotted with black, and by the chestnut-black 

 and white streaks upon the wing-coverts. The Alpine Accentor is larger than its British rela- 

 tive, being six inches and a half in total length, and its blue-green eggs are larger than those 

 of that bird. 



TITMICE. 



The group of birds which are distinguished by the name of Parinfe, or Titmice, are 

 easily recognizable, having all a kind of family resemblance which guards the observer from 

 mistaking them for any other bird. They are all remarkable for their strong, stout, little 

 beaks, the boldly defined color of the plumage, and the quick irregularity of their movements. 

 They are all insect-eaters, and are remarkably fond of the fat of meat, by means of which, used 

 as a bait, they can often be caught. Their feet and claws, though slight and apparently weak, 

 are really extremely strong, enabling the bird to traverse the boughs with great rapidity, and 

 to cling suspended from the branches. 



The first example of these birds is the Great Titmouse, an inhabitant of many parts of 

 Europe. 



It does not migrate, finding a sufficiency of winter food in its native land. During the 

 summer it generally haunts the forests, gardens, or shrubberies, and may be seen hopping 

 and running about the branches of the trees in a most adroit manner, searching for insects, and 

 occasionally stocking them out of their hiding-places by sharp blows of the bill. The beak of 

 the Great Titmouse is, although so small, a very formidable one, for the creature has often 

 been known to set upon the smaller birds, and to kill them by repeated blows on the head, 

 afterwards pulling the skull to pieces, and picking out the brains. 



During the winter the Great Titmouse draws near to human habitations, and by forag- 

 ing among the barns and outhouses, seldom fails in discovering an ample supply of food. 

 Mr. White has recorded a curious instance of the ingenuity displayed by this species while 

 searching for food. "In deep snows I have seen this bird, while it hung with its back 



