THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 
209 
describe a circle with their bills by picking with extreme rapidity 
all around them, during which operation their weight did not bring 
to the ground a single leaf, though all were “ sere and yellow.” 
Mr. Poole remarks that the coal titmouse feeds much in the season 
on the berries of woodbine, and that he has observed what ap- 
peared to be a family of these birds, engaged in carrying the 
berries one by one to their place of concealment. 
About Aberarder, Inverness-shire, this was the only species of 
titmouse that came under my observation during September, 1842, 
and it was common in the plantations, especially those of Scotch 
fir, to which decided preference was shown. Mr. Macgillivray 
(vol. ii. p. 442) and Sir Wm. Jardine (B. B. vol. ii. p. 172), give 
very interesting accounts of its habits. That it does not, how- 
ever, feed exclusively on insects in Ireland, — as the former author 
believes it to do in Scotland — I have had proof by finding seeds 
in its stomach. I have also commonly found fragments of stone, 
though they have not been met with in the birds examined by 
Mr. Macgillivray. 
The ceested titmouse (P. cristatus ) is a British bird confined to 
Scotland, where it is but little known. Mr. Poole remarks, that its 
habits do not differ much from those of its congener, the coal titmouse, 
with which he has seen it associated in the depth of pine forests in 
Germany. 
THE LONG-TAILED TIT. 
Pams caudatus , Linn. 
Is pretty widely disseminated over the island. 
This interesting bird, though not well-known, in consequence of 
its retired and wooded haunts, has long since been recorded as 
indigenous to Ireland, It appears in the county histories of Cork 
(Smith’s) and Londonderry, and the Natural History of Dublin : 
— in the last, Butty remarks that it “ was found in the county in 
the winter of 1768.” 
At present, the long-tailed tit is less known in the south 
than in the north, over which it is diffused, but not plentifully. 
VOL. i. p 
