314 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Titmice. 



and so firmly fixed that it is mostly found necessary 

 to cut out the portion of the bush containing it, if 

 desirous of preserving the natural appearance and 

 form of the nest. The female is the nest-maker, 

 and is known to have been occupied for a fortnight 

 to three weeks in completing her habitation. In 

 this she deposits from ten to twelve eggs ; but a 

 larger number are occasionally found : they are small 

 and white, with a few pale red specks, frequently 

 quite plain. The young family of the year keep 

 company with the parent, birds during their first 

 autumn and winter, and generally crowd close toge- 

 ther on the same branch at roosting-time, looking, 

 when thus huddled up, like a shapeless lump of fea- 

 thers only. These birds have several notes, on 

 the sound of which they assemble and keep to- 

 gether: one of these call-notes is soft and scarcely 

 audible ; a second is a louder chirp or twitter ; and 

 a third is of a hoarser kind." Figs. 1409 and 1410 

 represent the nest. 



The colouring of this species is as follows : — Head, 

 neck, throat, and breast pure white ; the back and 

 the six middle tail-feathers deep black ; scapulars 

 reddish ; belly, sides, and abdomen reddish-white ; 

 quills black ; greater wing-coverts bordered with 

 pure white ; lateral tail-feathers white on their 

 externa] barbs and at their end ; tail very long and 

 wedge-shaped. Length five inches seven or eight 

 lines. 



1411. — The Bearded Titmouse 



(Calamophilus biarmicus). Parus biarmicus. This 

 is the Mesange Barbue ou Moustache of the 

 French ; Bartmeise of the Germans ; Least Butcher- 

 Bird of Edwards; Reed Pheasant (provincial) of 

 the modern British ; and Y Barfog of the Welsh. 



M. Temminck remarks that the Zahnschablige 

 Bartmeise of Brehm is a species or subspecies 

 founded only on individuals which have been long 

 caged, such as may be seen in the Dutch markets, 

 where numbers are sold. Some of these captives 

 come to London, where they may be bought for 

 some four or five shillings a pair. The iris and bill 

 in the living bird are of a delicate orange-colour. 



The bearded titmouse is a native of most parts of 

 Europe ; having, however, a partial distribution, 

 from the circumstance of its affecting reed-beds 

 and marshes. Hence it is abundant in Holland, 

 and in the marshes of Ostia, Italy. It occurs along 

 the shores of the Caspian Sea. In our island it 

 has been found in reed-beds in Surrey, Sussex, 

 Essex, Kent, along the banks of the Thames 

 between London and Oxford, and in the fens of 

 Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk. 

 The food of this bird consists of insects, the seeds 

 of various grasses, and especially of small fresh- 

 water shelled snails ; and it is remarkable that the 

 sides of the stomach in this bird are thick and 

 muscular, and formed into a gizzard, which is not 

 the case in the true Tits, whence is afforded the 

 power of breaking down the shells of the testaceous 

 mollusks, Succinea amphibia and Pupa muscorum, 

 which are greedily devoured. 



According to Mr. Hoy the bearded tit begins 

 building towards the end of April, and the nest 

 is composed on the outside of dead leaves of 

 the reed and sedge, intermixed with a few pieces 

 of grass, and lined with the top of the reed. He 

 describes it as generally placed in a tuft of coarse 

 grass or rushes near the ground, on the margin of 

 the dikes, in the fens ; and sometimes is fixed 

 among the reeds that are broken down, but never 

 suspended between the stems. Their food, he says, 

 is principally the seed of the reed ; and so intent 

 were they on their search for it, that he had taken 

 them with a bird-limed twig attached to a fishing- 

 rod. "When alarmed by any sudden noise, or the 

 passing of a hawk, they uttered their shrill musical 

 notes, and concealed themselves among the thick 

 bottoms of the reeds, but they soon resumed their 

 station, climbing the upright stems with the greatest 

 facility. 



Mr. Dykes had an opportunity of examining three 

 specimens, and he found their crops completely 

 filled with the Succinea amphibia in a perfect state, 

 the shells unbroken and singularly closely packed 

 together. The crop of one, not larger than a hazel- 

 nut, contained twenty Succineae, some of them of a 

 good size, and four Pupae muscorum, with the shells 

 also entire. The stomach was full of small frag- 

 ments of shell, in a greater or less degree of decom- 

 position. Numerous sharp angular fragments of 

 quartz which had been swallowed had, with the 

 action of the stomach, effected the comminution of 

 the shells. 



Two nests obtained by Mr. Yarrell from the parish 

 of Horsey were sustained only an inch or two above 

 the ground by the strength of the stems of the 

 coarse grass on which they were fixed. Each was 

 composed entirely of dried bents, the finer ones 

 forming the lining ; others increasing in substance 

 made up the exterior. Mr. Yarrell states the num- 

 ber of eggs at from four to six, rather smaller than 



those of the great titmouse and less pointed ; eight 

 lines and a half long by six lines and a half in 

 breadth ; white, and sparingly marked with pale red 

 lines or scratches. (' British Birds.') 



Description. — Male. — Black between the bill and 

 the eye, and these black feathers are very long and 

 prolonged on each side on the lateral part of the 

 neck ; head and occiput bluish-ash ; throat and 

 front of the neck pure white, which blends on the 

 breast and the middle of the belly into a rosy hue ; 

 nape, back, rump, feathers of the middle of the tail 

 and sides fine rust-colour ; great coverts of the 

 wings deep black, bordered with deep rusty on the 

 external barb, and reddish-white on the internal 

 barb ; quills bordered with white ; feathers of the 

 under part of the tail deep black ; lateral tail- 

 feathers bordered and terminated with grey; tail 

 long, much graduated; bill and iris fine yellow. 

 Length, six inches and two or three lines. 



Female.— No black moustaches ; throat and front 

 of the neck tarnished white ; upper parts of the 

 head and body rusty, shaded with brown ; on the 

 middle of the back some longitudinal black spots ; 

 under tail-coverts bright rusty. 



Young at their leaving the nest, and before their 

 first moult, with nearly the whole of the plumage of 

 very bright, reddish ; a good deal of black on the ex- 

 ternal barbs of the quills and tail-feathers ; on the 

 middle of the back a very large space of deep black. 

 After the first moult nothing of the deep black of 

 the back remains but some longitudinal spots. 



1412,— The Penduline Titmouse 



(JEgithalus pendulinus). Parus pendulinus ; Re- 

 miz or Mesange de Pologne of the French ; Bentel- 

 meise of the Germans. This bird is principally 

 confined to the southern and eastern provinces of 

 Europe ; Poland, Hungary, the south of France, 

 Italy, &c. It breeds along the Danube. The 

 Penduline Titmouse, both in habits and in the choice 

 of its food, has many points in common with the 

 species above described. Like the bearded tit, the 

 Penduline titmouse haunts the reedy banks of 

 rivers, or the margins of " wide-watered " shores, and 

 its food consists not only of the seeds of the reeds, 

 but of aquatic insects and mollusks. It derives its 

 name from its pensile purse-like or flask-like nest, 

 generally suspended at the end of some willow twig 

 or other flexible branch of an aquatic tree. This 

 skilfully- wrought, cradle is woven from the cotton- 

 like wool or down of the willow or poplar, with an 

 opening in the side for the ingress and egress of the 

 artificers and their young, and mostly overhangs the 

 water ; sometimes, however, it is interwoven among 

 the reed stems. The eggs are six in number, and of 

 a pure white marked with spots of red. 



In the male the colouring is as follows : — Bill 

 black, straight, a little elongated, and pointed ; tail 

 short ; top of the head and nape pure ash-colour ; 

 forehead, space between the eye and the bill, region 

 of the eyes, and feathers of the orifices of thenars 

 deep black; back and scapulars reddish-grey: rump 

 ash-colour ; throat white, the other lower parts 

 whitish, with rosy tints ; coverts of the wings chest- 

 nut, bordered and terminated with whitish-rusty 

 and white ; wings and tail blackish, bordered with 

 whitish-rusty ; tail-feathers terminated with white ; 

 iris yellow. Length, four inches three or four lines. 

 The female is rather smaller, and has the tints less 

 decided. 



1413. — The Black Titmouse 



{Parus niger). Parus leucopterus, Swainson. This 

 species is abundant in the Caffre country, South 

 Africa, and has been received also from Senegal. 

 In general form and size it approaches the Parus 

 major of Europe, but the bill is shorter and more 

 arched above ; the feet are smaller, and the claws 

 shorter, broader, and more curved. According to 

 Le Vaillant, the note of the Black Titmouse, or 

 Mesange noire, is the same as that of our Greater 

 Titmouse ; and the nest, he says, is made in the 

 hollow trunks of trees, where the bird also roosts. 

 The eggs are from six to eight in number, and of a 

 pure white. The general colour of this species is a 

 deep uniform glossy black with a slight bluish re- 

 flexion in certain lights ; the lesser and greater 

 wing-coverts and base of the quill-feathers are of 

 a snowy white, in admirable contrast with the black. 

 Total length, nearly six inches. 



Family SYLVIAD^E (WARBLERS). 

 Fig. 1414 is a group of pictorial specimens of British 

 Sylviadae :— a, the Nightingale ; b, the Black-cap ; 

 c, the Wren; d, the Redbreast: e, the Sedge- 

 Warbler;/, the Whitethroat. 



The family designated Sylviadae, or Warblers, 

 comprehends a very numerous assemblage of birds, 

 all of small size and delicate structure, many being 

 noted for their powers of song. In all the bill is 

 more or less slender, with the upper mandible 

 notched ; not a few are migratory in their habits, 

 and rank among our summer visitants. For the 



most part they are woodland in their habits, fre- 

 quenting groves, hedgerows, plantations, and copses, 

 where their mingled voices resound during the 

 months of May and June, making a wild chorus, as 

 morning dawns, grateful to the ear, and combining 

 with the hues of the renewed foliage, the perfume 

 of early flowers, and the tranquillity of the hour, to 

 impress the mind with pleasing sensations, and fix 

 in it a train of associations as delightful as perma- 

 nent. The groups of the Sylviadae are spread over 

 all quarters of the globe, and are destined with 

 others to thin the innumerable hosts of insects 

 which teem in the localities they tenant. Such as 

 are migratory arrive in their summer-quarters at 

 the time when their natural food begins to abound, 

 and retire southwards when the supply begins to di- 

 minish, upon the first fall of the leaf, and \\\q cooler 

 breeze of an autumnal evening. As different lo- 

 calities are assigned to different tribes of insects, so, 

 though most are woodland, is a diversity of haunts 

 assigned to the various groups of these birds. Some 

 confine themselves to the higher branches of the 

 trees, some frequent dense humid thickets, some 

 hedgerows, some tall reed-beds, some grassy lawns, 

 pasture lands, and wide commons ; and in each 

 place do they find the insects most suitable to their 

 appetite. A few feed during the summer months 

 on ripe berries, as well as on insects ; and visit 

 gardens and shrubberies. 



The Sylviadas are thrown by naturalists into se- 

 veral minor groups or subfamilies, as Saxicolinse, 

 Stonechats ; Philomehncc, Nightingales, &c. : but as 

 our object is rather to illustrate the general outline 

 of ornithology than enter into minutfae, we shall re- 

 strict our observations to the pictorial specimens 

 before us, which embody the principal forms of the 

 present family. 



1414 (ct), 1415, 1416.— The Nightingale 

 {Philomela Luscinia). ayScbv of the ancient Greeks, 

 Luscinia and Philomela of the Latins. Rossignuolo, 

 Rusignuolo, and Usignuolo of the modern Italians; 

 Rossi gnol of the French ; Ruisenor of the Spanish ; 

 Naehtigall of the Germans; Nachtergahl of the 

 'Fauna Suecica ;' Nattergale of Brunnich ; and 

 Eos of the ancient British. It is the Luscinia of 

 Gesner, Aldrovandus, Willughby, Ray, and Brehm : 

 Motacilla Luscinia of Linnaeus ; Sylvia Luscinia of 

 Latham and others; Curruca Luscinia of Fleming; 

 Philomela Luscinia of Selby, Gould, and Swainson ; 

 and the Luscinia Philomela of Bonaparte. 



This deservedly celebrated songster is a summer 

 visitor to our island and the European continent, 

 migrating in winter into Egypt and Syria, and the 

 northern districts of Africa. On the Continent it 

 extends its range as far northwards as Sweden ; but 

 in our island, strange to say, its distribution is li- 

 mited. It is stated to be tolerably common about 

 Doncaster, in Yorkshire ; but though this may be 

 the case, it is certainly of rare occurrence in Lan- 

 cashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire. It does not visit 

 Cornwall or the western parts of Devonshire, nor 

 (though Dyer, in his ' Grongar Hill,' makes this 

 bird the companion of his Muse in the Vale of 

 Towey) is it heard in Wales, excepting perhaps on 

 the border-line of South Wales, and that very rarely. 

 It never visits Ireland ; nor is it known in the Chan- 

 nel Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, &c. In the south- 

 eastern counties it is abundant ; and especially in 

 Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Essex, 

 Middlesex, Berkshire, &c. The causes of this par- 

 tial distribution have not hitherto been satisfactorily 

 explained. On the Continent it is nowhere more 

 abundant than in Portugal, Spain, and Italy, where, 

 however, as in England, it is migratory, leaving 

 those countries on the setting in of winter. The 

 islands of the Greek Archipelago are visited by this 

 bird ; it is found also in Judea, and Mr. Strickland 

 observed it at Smyrna on the 5th of April. Mr. 

 Gould states that he has " received specimens from 

 Northern Africa, but never obtained any from the 

 centra] or southern parts of that portion of the 

 globe : it would appear therefore that its distribu- 

 tion over that vast continent is very limited." 



The nightingale haunts close shrubberies, copses, 

 and dense coverts, in low humid situations, and, as 

 it has been observed, more especially where the 

 cowslip grows plentifully. To these favourite spots 

 the males, which precede by about ten days the fe- 

 males, on their visit to our shores, immediately 

 make their way, and begin their rich strains of invi- 

 tation, striving, as it would seem, to excel each 

 other in the fulness of their notes and the luxuri- 

 ance of their modulations. This bird, as its name 

 implies, sings at night, and its strains, heard by 

 calm moonlight when all is silent around, are very 

 pleasing ; but it is not only at night that this song- 

 ster pours out his melody ; he sings also during the 

 day, but his strain, mingled with the voices of other 

 birds, is less effective, less captivating than when 

 uttered during the moonlit hour, and listened to 

 amidst the shadowy stillness of its embowered re- 

 treat. 



