THE LONG-TAILED TIT 35 



and lichens, interwoven with wool and lined thickly with feathers. 

 It is usually placed among the boughs of a silver-fir or spruce-fir, 

 in such a manner as to be partially suspended from one branch 

 and supported by another. The bird seems neither to court nor 

 to shun the vicinity of human beings ; as I have found nests in 

 the most lonely woods, and I have seen one in the branches of a 

 spruce-fir, so close to my house that I could look into the nest 

 from my bedroom windows, and watch the old birds feeding their 

 young. The eggs vary in number from five to eight, they are 

 almost globular, and smaller than those of any other British bird. 

 This is scarcely surprising, seeing that the weight of a recently 

 killed adult male which I have before me is eighty-seven grains ; 

 so that five and a half full-grown birds weigh but an ounce. 



THE FIRE-CRESTED WREN 



REGULUS IGNICAPILLUS 



Upper parts olive-green ; a dark streak passing through the eye, and 

 another white one above and below ; crest brilliant orange, bounded in 

 front and on each side by a black streak ; in other respects resembling 

 the last. Female with all the colours less brilliant. Length four inches. 

 Eggs cream colour, tinged with red and dotted. 



This species both in size and habits resembles the last, from which 

 it is best distinguished by three dark lines on each side of its head. 

 Hence it is called in France ' Roitelet d triple bandeau'. It is far 

 less common than the Gold-crest, and has not been observed in 

 the winter, when birds of the other species are most abundant — 

 in fact, it is only a rare straggler. Its call-note is shorter than that 

 of the Gold-crest, not so shrill, and pitched in a different key. 

 The nests of the two birds are much alike. 



FAMILY PARIDiE 

 THE LONG-TAILED TIT 



ACREDULA CAUDATA 



Head, neck, throat, breast, and a portion of the outer tail-featbers white ; 

 back, wings, and six middle feathers of the tail black ; a black streak 

 above the eye ; sides of .the back and scapulars tinged with rose-red ; 

 under parts reddish white ; tail very long ; beak very short. Length five 

 inches and three-quarters ; breadth six inches and three-quarters. 

 Eggs white, minutely and sparingly speckled with light red or plain white. 



All the Tits, of whatever species, are more or less sociable in their 

 habits, hunting about during autumn in parties of half a dozen 



