302 cassell's book of birds. 



low branches, sometimes within a foot or two of my head. They are extremely adroit in catching 

 their prey, have only at times a feeble chirp, visit the tops of the tallest trees as well as the lowest 

 bushes, and continue generally for a considerable time among the branches of the same tree, 

 darting about from place to place ; appearing, when on the top of a high maple, no bigger than 

 humble-bees." 



" Notwithstanding all my endeavours," continues our author, " I have never been able to 

 discover their nest, though, from the circumstance of having found them sometimes here in summer, 

 I am persuaded that they occasionally breed in Pennsylvania, but I know several birds no larger than 

 this that usually breed on the extremities of the tallest trees in the woods, which I have discovered 

 from their beginning before the leaves are out ; many others, no doubt, choose similar situations, and, 

 should they delay building until the woods are thickened with leaves, it is no easy matter to discover 

 them. In fall they are so extremely fat, as almost to dissolve between the fingers as you open them, 

 owing to the great abundance of their favourite insects at that lime." 



The PENDULINE TITMICE (^ithah/s) are small, slenderly-formed birds, with awl-shaped 

 beaks, scarcely perceptibly curved at the tip ; short, blunt wings, in which the third, fourth, and fifth 

 quills are the longest, and nearly of equal length ; and moderate-sized tails, slightly incised at the 

 extremity. The plumage is very lax, and the males more brightly and beautifully coloured than the 

 females. The young differ in their appearance from both parents. 



THE TRUE PENDULINE TITMOUSE. 



The True Penduline Titmouse (/Egithalus pendulums) is greyish red on the upper part of its 

 body, on the under side whitish, shaded with rust-red on the breast ; a black stripe, beginning at the 

 cheeks, passes across the eyes to the region of the ear ; the quills and tail-feathers are blackish, with 

 light borders ; the eye is brown, the beak of various shades of black, whitish at its margins ; the feet 

 are black or greyish black. The female is more dusky, and has less black upon the brow and sides 

 of the head than her mate. In the young the black cheek-stripes are not indicated. The upper 

 portion of the body is reddish grey. This species is from four inches to four and a half long, and 

 from six to six and a half broad ; the wing measures two inches and a quarter, and the tail one inch 

 and three-quarters. 



These elegant little birds inhabit all the eastern parts of Europe and a large portion of Asia, and 

 their active, sprightly demeanour entitles them to a place among the most interesting members of the 

 family to which they belong. From morning to night they are almost incessantly in motion, climbing 

 nimbly among the reeds, or hopping from twig to twig, in search of the insects and larvae upon which 

 they subsist. They generally, however, keep well sheltered beneath the foliage, where their presence 

 is constantly betrayed by the frequent utterance of their clear, chirping note. Whether this species 

 migrates is as yet undecided i, it is, nevertheless, certain that it disappears from its native haunts about 

 September or October, and does not return until March. 



" Proverbial as the nests of the Tits are for beauty of structure," says Mr. Gould, " none are 

 more remarkable and curious than that of the present species ; it is constructed of the soft down of 

 the poplar or willow, and this substance, which closely resembles cotton wool, is woven together with 

 admirable ingenuity, so as to form a flask-shaped nest with a lateral opening into the internal 

 chamber. It is suspended at the extremity of a drooping branch of a willow, or any similar tree 

 hanging over the water." 



We are indebted to Baldamus not only for a very complete description of the remarkable nest 

 made by these birds, but also for a detailed account of the mode of building it. " I have had an 



