The Long-tailed Titmouse. 



361 



ten or twelve. The parents are most assiduous in their 

 attentions to their offspring, and feed them at short intervals. 

 The young birds remain with their parents until the following 

 spring, when they separate, and set up homes of their own. 



Methods op Capture. — These birds may be taken in the Tit 

 trap, and likewise by the methods recom.mended for capturing 

 Cole Tits. 



Food and Treatment. — The Long-tailed Titmouse lives al- 

 most entirely on insects, and, like the other members of the 

 species, searches diligently for them in trees, or other likely places. 

 In winter, when flies and grubs are not procurable, it resorts to 

 worms and spiders, and when pinched by Hunger partakes of 

 elder, ivy, and holly berries. In confinement, it is difficult 

 to manage, as, unless it has a daily supply of insect food in 

 some form or other, it speedily succumbs. It is not an easy 

 matter to reconcile it to a state of domestication, and, as 

 a rule, only those taken when young, or reared by hand, can be 

 successfully kept in a cage or aviary. Give a few mealworms — 

 say three or four — and some preserved flies each day, and 

 occasionally a spider or two. As a change of diet, a little hard- 

 boiled egg, mixed, in equal proportions, with raw sheep's heart, 

 chopped very fine, may be given. Most soft-billed birds are fond 

 of this food, and, when insect food is difficult to procure, it forms 

 an excellent substitute ; captured birds, however, will not partake 

 of it until they have become acclimatized, and thoroughly re- 

 conciled to their changed circumstances. 



EEARiNa THE YouNG. — Ecmovc them from the care of their 

 parents at the age of ten or twelve days, and feed on hard-boiled 

 egg and raw sheep's or pig's heart, chopped exceedingly fine, and 

 moistened with water. Ants' eggs, when procurable, should be 

 substituted for the heart, as a change of diet, say every third day ; 

 and two or three mealworms may be chopped up and mixed with 

 the egg once a week as a further change. When the young ones 

 are three weeks old, give them a few small flies once or twice a 

 a day. Long-tailed Titmice are most difficult to rear, and it re- 

 quires much care and patience to accomplish the task, and also 

 to keep them in health in a state of domestication ; but they are 

 most interesting birds, and deserving of the extra trouble necessary 

 for their preservation. 



Distinguishing Marks of Cock and Hen. — The female is 

 paler in colour throughout than the male. The back is reddish 



