5 
structed entirely of feathers, chiefly of Swallow’s, some even 10 centimetres long ; the bottom of 
the nest was much thicker than the side walls; and the entire nest measured outside 15 centi- 
metres long by 10 centimetres in breadth. The young brood, as often as many as ten in number, 
are seen as early as April, and from then to the end of June. 
This species inhabits not only the whole of the lower portions of Switzerland, but goes as 
high up into the mountains as 5000 feet above the sea-level, where Dr. Girtanner states he 
observed that its habits were exactly similar to the habits of those found in the valleys. He 
writes that in their restlessness, love of company, and also of strife, they assimilate closely to the 
true Titmice, but feed entirely on insect food. In confinement they are, he further writes, “ very 
difficult to keep; but I have succeeded in keeping them in good health as long as two years. 
They thrive best when caught in the winter; and I have then confined them between large 
double windows where ivy was growing: on the leaves of this plant numbers of leaf-lice are 
found, on which the fresh-caught Titmice feed, and by degrees get accustomed to confinement, 
and take ants’ eggs and other food. ‘They are not free from cannibalism; and four which I had, 
killed their three companions by repeated strokes of the beak on the head, and devoured their 
brains. With this exception, they made very pretty and nice cage-birds.” 
Our friend Mr. Alfred Benzon, of Copenhagen, writes to us as follows :—‘ Here in Denmark 
it is called Halemeise and Stjertmeise. It is not uncommon, and is most numerous when, collected 
in flocks, it comes near to inhabited places. Its nest, however, is seldom found; and I only once 
met with one, containing ten eggs, at Dyrehaven on the 21st of May, 1870. This nest was some- 
what loosely placed in the top of a white thorn, was almost round, composed of moss (Hypnum) 
outside intermixed with lichens, and inside lined with small feathers. Both birds incubated, but 
one not so assiduously as the other ; if one approached close to the nest they flew off, but returned 
- as soon as one retreated a short distance. In the summer of 1868 I saw a tolerably large family 
of young birds which remained some days about the thorn-bushes.” Mr. Benzon kindly sent us 
a sketch (see woodcut, p. 6) of a most peculiarly shaped nest of this Titmouse, taken in Zealand. 
In shape it resembles a plain honey-jar placed horizontally on the upper part of a long cleft 
between two large branches, to the base of which a pouch twice or three times as long as the 
jar itself is attached perpendicularly, filling up the face of the fork between the branches; the 
entrance-hole is the mouth of the jar. This nest was built of moss, closely covered with pieces 
of lichen. 
Mr. Benzon gives the measurement of Danish-taken eggs as 13 by 11 to 14°5 by 11-5 
millimetres respectively, and describes them as similar in colour and markings to eggs from 
other parts of Europe. Eggs in Dresser’s collection are dull white, with minute red dots 
»ollected chiefly at the larger end. 
Dr. Rey has in his collection eggs from Northern and Central Europe, but none from the 
south. In Saxony the breeding-season is from the end of March to the early part of May, and 
the number of eggs from ten to fourteen ; and thirty-three eggs which he has measured average 
in size 15°6 by 10-9 millimetres. The eggs are in some instances tolerably clearly marked, and 
in others they are almost without markings. 
The figures and descriptions of the adult male and young are taken from beautiful speci- 
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