54 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



taming a livelihood is the bird's nest 

 {Monotropa), which is found occasion- 

 ally in woods, near the roots of fir and 

 beech-trees. It may be said to be in 

 a transition state from the saprophytic 

 to the parasitic mode of living ; so 

 some have classed it as a parasite, and 

 others are content that it should be 

 called a saprophyte. 



Yet another class of plants, with 

 abnormal habitats, are known as Epi- 

 phytes. These simply grow upon other' 

 plants without deriving their nourish- 

 ment from the plant which supports 

 them, but only using them as an 

 anchorage or resting-place, deriving 

 their nutriment from the surrounding 

 atmosphere. Orchidacese furnishes the 

 highest developement of these curious 

 plants. They are absent from this 

 country, but abound in the humid 

 forests of the tropics. Everyone who 

 has inspected an orchid-house, which 

 are now so popular with floriculturists, 

 must have noticed little pieces of wood 

 suspended from the roof or laid on a 

 shelf, to which was attached a dead- 

 and-alive-looking object like a few 

 half-grown onions ; perchance one in 

 a flowering state has produced a spike 

 of the most gorgeous and fantastic- 

 shaped blossoms. These have attained 

 maturity solely from water and the 

 warm, moist air in which they thrive. 

 Epiphytes in this country are confined 

 to a few mosses and lichens which may 

 be seen luxuriating on old forest or 



orchard trees, and occasionally one 

 may see a polypody fern growing in 

 similar circumstances on the trunk of 

 a tree, although no one has as yet 

 accused it of being a parasite. Less 

 frequently still one may observe a 

 gooseberry or currant bush, or even 

 an elder or ash sapling, growing high 

 up on the fork of some mighty mon- 

 arch of the forest, where the seed has 

 been dropped into a crevice by some 

 adventurous bird, or wafted by the 

 wind, and finding some congenial 

 surroundings, it has germinated and 

 maintained for a time a precarious 

 existence ; but no one would maintain 

 from such an abnormal freak that 

 these plants were becoming epiphytal 

 in their habits, although it might be 

 quite as difficult to decide what first 

 induced the parasitic habit in the 

 remote ancestors of these confirmed 

 plant paupers of the present day. 



BRITISH BIRDS, 

 THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. Mosley. 



52. CRESTED TIT. 



Parus Cristatus. 

 Cristatus, crested. 



Size. — Length, about 4$ in. ; expanse 

 8 in. 



Plumage.— Bill, black ; top of head 

 black, each feather edged with white, and 

 elongated behind into a crest, which can be 

 erected at pleasure; sides of head white, 



