THE a RE AT TITMOUSE. 
223 
two broods of young in the year, and when the nest is robbed, the mother bird often lays three 
sets of five eggs in the course of the season, of which she may think herself fortunate if she 
succeeds in rearing one. 
The song of the Hedge Accentor is sweet, but not varied nor powerful, and has a peculiar 
plaintive air about it. The bird is a persevering songster, continuing to sing throughout a 
large portion of the year, and only ceasing during the time of the ordinary moult. Like many 
other warbling birds, it possesses considerable powers of imitation, and can mock with some 
success the greater number of British song-birds. 
This bird is nearly as bold as the sparrow, and will sometimes take up its residence in 
cities, where it soon gains the precociously impertinent airs that characterize all town birds, 
speedily loses the bright rich brown and gray of its plumage, and assumes as dingy a garb as 
that of the regular city sparrow. 
The color of tfie Hedge Accentor is bluish-gray, covered with small brown streaks upon 
the head and the back and sides of the neck. The back and wings are brown streaked with a 
deeper tint of the same hue, and the quill-feathers of the wings and tail are of a rather darker 
brown, and not quite so glossy. The chin, the throat, and upper part of the breast are gray, 
and the lower part of the breast and the abdomen are white, with a wash of pale buff. The 
legs and toes are brown, with a decided orange tinge, and the beak is dark brown. The total 
length of the bird is nearly six inches. 
The Alpine Accentor (. Accentor al/pinus ) is another European representative of this 
group. 
The countries where this bird is usually found are Italy, France, Germany, and several 
other parts of Europe. It is a mountain-loving bird, ■ seldom descending to the level of the 
plains except during the stormy months of winter. It can readily be distinguished from the 
ordinary Accentor by the throat, which is white spotted with black, and by the chestnut-black 
and white streaks upon the wing-coverts. The Alpine Accentor is larger than its British rela- 
tive, being six inches and a half in total length, and its blue-green eggs are larger than those 
of that bird. 
TITMICE. 
. The group of birds which are distinguished by the name of Parinse, or Titmice, are 
easily recognizable, having all a kind of family resemblance which guards the observer from 
mistaking them for any other bird. They are all remarkable for their strong, stout, little 
beaks, the boldly defined color of the plumage, and the quick irregularity of their movements. 
They are all insect-eaters, and are remarkably fond of the fat of meat, by means of which, used 
as a bait, they can often be caught. Their feet and claws, though slight and apparently weak, 
are really extremely strong, enabling the bird to traverse the boughs with great rapidity, and 
to cling suspended from the branches. 
The first example of these birds is the Great Titmouse, an inhabitant of many parts of 
Europe. 
It does not migrate, finding a sufficiency of winter food in its native land. During the 
summer it generally haunts the forests, gardens, or shrubberies, and may be seen hopping 
and running about the branches of the trees in a most adroit manner, searching for insects, and 
occasionally stocking them out of their hiding-places by sharp blows of the bill. The beak of 
the Great Titmouse is, although so small, a very formidable one, for the creature has often 
been known to set upon the smaller birds, and to kill them by repeated blows on the head, 
afterwards pulling the skull to pieces, and picking out the brains. 
During the winter the Great Titmouse draws near to human habitations, and by forag- 
ing among the barns and outhouses, seldom fails in discovering an ample supply of food. 
Mr. White has recorded a curious instance of the ingenuity displayed by this species while 
searching for food. “In deep snows I have seen this bird, while it hung with its back 
