266 TITMOUSE. 



the fondness of one sex for the other, perpetually caressing ; by this 

 means alleviating the rigours of confinement, and making even 

 captivity itself supportable. 



22— MOUNTAIN TITMOUSE. 



La Mesange brune a poitrine noire, Leoail. Afr. iii. 167. pi. 139. 1. 



THIS, says M. Levaillant, is the smallest of the Titmice found 

 about the Cape of Good Hope ; size of the Blue Species. Bill black ; 

 eyes brown ; head, neck, throat, and breast, black, the last continued 

 in a streak down the middle of the belly; at the corner of the mouth 

 begins a white band, passing beneath the eye, and growing there 

 broader, continues as an irregular broad patch, on the ear to the 

 shoulder ; forming also a spot at the back part of the head ; 

 back and scapulars earthy brown, fringed with white; sides, lower 

 belly, and vent rufous grey ; quills brown, tail the same, the exterior 

 feathers white on the outer webs, and all of them white at the ends ; 

 legs lead-colour. The female is smaller, but like the male. 



Inhabits the rocks, and mountainous parts in the neighbourhood 

 of the Cape of Good Hope ; has a lisping sort of note, like Gra, gra, 

 at other times not unlike that of others of the Genus. The nest is 

 made of moss, wool, and feathers, very large, and there are from 

 eight to fourteen eggs. 



23.— BLACK-BREASTED TITMOUSE. 



Parus Afer, hid. Orn. ii. 564. Got. Lin. i. 1010. 



Black-breasted Titmouse, Gen. Syn. iv. 539. Z>' Entrecast. Voy. i. 87. Shaw's Zool. 

 x. p. 54. 



SIZE of the first Species. Plumage above dusky; sides of the 

 head, and round the eye, white; on each side of the neck a stripe of 

 the same ; at the hiudhead a spot of white ; chin, throat, and breast, 



