74, PENDULINE TIT. 



the filaments and joins them together, so as to form the bottom of 

 the nest. It now lines the two sides of the nest with down, proceeding 

 from the bottom to the top, until it has succeeded in forming a nest 

 which has two openings. Then it lines the centre of the nest with 

 softest down of the willow, and then closes up one of the openings. 

 It strengthens the outside with a greater quantity of willow-down, to 

 which it often adds tufts of sedge, reeds, and thistles, and then dimin- 

 ishes the other opening, and forms a projecting conduit or passage. 

 It uses no animal production in this construction, which takes about 

 four weeks to complete. This is the real form of these nests, all those 

 with two openings being imperfect constructions, and the error has 

 been perpetuated in consequence of the female commencing to lay 

 eggs before the nest is completed, in which both male and female 

 assiduously engage. If the process of sitting commences before the 

 nest is finished, the work is carried on by the male alone. There 

 are very few places in the kingdom of Poland where the Remitz 

 builds. The locality is generally some large pond covered with rushes 

 and bushes, situated on the right hand shore of the Vistula, and in 

 the vast wooded marshes found in the neighbouring country of Paleria 

 — the low and marshy part of Minsk, Volhynia, and Grodno. There 

 are a few which nest on the shores of the Vistula, but none have been 

 found on the left side of the river. 



The nest is placed on different species of poplar, willow, and alder, 

 situated from one to fifteen metres or more above the ground; lowest 

 on the osiers, and highest on the poplars. They are not always sus- 

 pended over the water: more frequently over the ground, but always 

 in places surrounded by water. I have never found them in thickets, 

 but in spots more or less open. In the thick osier grounds they 

 are only found at the edges of the openings and glades. The nest 

 is very easy to find when building, or when the brood is young, for 

 then the parents are always at hand, and give warning of the approach 

 of danger by a slight prolonged whistling, (sifHement.) When the 

 female sits, the male often goes away and gives no warning, but as 

 soon as the nest is taken he appears, perches himself on the place 

 it once occupied, and never ceases to bewail its loss." 



Count Miihle remarks that in Greece it is very difficult to get spe- 

 cimens of the Penduline Tit, because it lives and breeds in impenetrable 

 swampy woods, surrounded by grass land which is often under water. 

 He found the nests frequently in the winter empty, when the trees 

 were leafless. 



Salvadori ("Fauna d'ltalia") says of this bird: — "These birds are 

 found in many parts of Italy, viz.: Piedmont, Lombardy, Venetia, 



