BLUE TITMOUSE. 
1G7 
of sociability. This species also requires to be kept alone, 
and must be provided with a cage entirely of wire, as they 
soon, with their powerful beaks, destroy wood-work in their 
incessant attempts to recover their liberty. 
The entire length of the Blue Titmouse is four inches and 
a half; the wing measures from the carpus to the tip two 
inches and a quarter, and the tail, which measures nearly two 
inches, extends an inch beyond the tips of the closed wings ; 
the tarsus is eight lines in length ; the beak four lines from 
the tip to the forehead, and in form short and conical. 
The variegated plumage of this species is as follows. The 
crown of the head is blue, lightest near the forehead, and 
darkest towards the nape, surrounded entirely by a white 
band ; beneath this white band passes a dark bluish-black 
line, which commences at the nostril, and passing through the 
eyes, extends to the back of the head ; the cheeks are white, 
bounded by a dark blue band, which commences at the 
corner of the mouth, and passes backwards to the nape. The 
feathers of the back and scapulars are glossy canary green. 
The coverts of the wings are deep bright blue, the larger 
tipped with white, forming a distinct band across the wings ; 
the quill-feathers are blackish, the secondaries edged with 
bluish-green, and the tertials tipped with dull white ; the tail 
is blue, and slightly forked. The under plumage is sulphur- 
yellow ; the chin is deep bluish-purple, from which a band of 
the same colour extends down the middle of the belly ; the 
legs and toes are bluish-grey. 
The female nearly resembles the male, clitFering only in 
having her colours less bright and distinct, and the dark band 
down the centre of the body less prolonged. 
The young birds have the same distribution of colours, but 
they are much duller, and tinged with grey. During their 
first autumnal moult, which takes place in August, the co¬ 
lours of the nestling plumage and the feathering of the adult 
