312 THE HEDGE SPARROW. 
mosses, wool, and hair, and the eggs are usually five in number, of a bright 
bluish green colour. Sometimes, but very rarely, six eggs are found in a 
single nest. 
The song ot 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 turoughout 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 imi- 
tation, and can mock with some suc- 
cess the greater number of British 
song-birds. 
The colour of the Hedge Accentor 
is bluish grey, 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 grey, 
HEDGE SPARROW, OR ACCENTOR. and the lower part of the breast and 
(Accentor modulurius.) 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 group of birds which are distinguished by the name of Parinz or 
TITMICE, are easily 
recognizable, having 
all a kind of famliy 
resemblance which 
guards the observer 
from mistaking them 
for any other bird. 
The first example 
of these birds is the 
GREAT TITMOUSE, 
an inhabitant of 
- England and many 
parts of Europe. — 
It does not mi- 
grate, finding a suf- 
ficiency of winter 
food in its native 
land. During the 
summer it generally 
haunts the forests, 
gardens, or shrub- 
: beries, and may be 
GREAT TITMOUSE —(furus major.) seen hopping and 
running about the 
branches of the trees in a most adroit manner, searching for insects, and 
occasionally knocking them out of their hiding-places by sharp blows of 
the bill, The beak of the Great Titmouse is, although so small, a very 
