62 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
Tit, though it looks something like a Long-tailed 
Tit much magnified ; it has no very near relatives 
and occupies a family position by itself. 
LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE. 
{^Acredula caudata.') 
Bottle-Tit. — Next to the Goldcrest, this is the 
smallest British bird, though the extreme length 
of its tail gives it an advantage in actual length 
over a number of larger species. Though it 
strongly resembles the Blue and other Tits in its 
restless and active habits, there are many obvious 
points of difference between them, and the Long- 
tailed Tit is placed scientifically in a genus of its 
own, though within the main Titmouse family. It 
is a hardy and active little creature, in spite of its 
delicacy of form, and is as familiar in winter as in 
summer. It nests early in the year, the young 
being often hatched before the end of April ; and 
from the end of one breeding-season to the be- 
ginning of the next it forms large family parties 
or small flocks of a dozen or twenty individuals, 
which may often be seen making their way through 
the hedges and from tree to tree in search of food, 
calling to one another with a sociable little piping 
cry as they follow one another by twos and threes 
