BOTTLE TIT. 
51 
feathers black ; those next the body edged with grey ; coverts black ; 
the tail consists of twelve feathers of unequal length ; the four middle 
ones are wholly black ; the next has a small white mark on the outer 
web, near the point ; the others tipped and obliquely marked with white 
on the exterior webs ; the second feathers from the middle are the 
longest, measuring three inches and a half ; the outer feathers on each 
side only one inch and three quarters ; the legs black. In some the 
whole upper part of the neck is black ; the under parts greyish white, 
except on the sides and vent, which are of a pale vinaceoiis colour ; and 
across the breast is an obscure dusky band. 
This very elegant and singular species is confined chiefly to the 
woods and thickets, where it makes a curious oval nest in the fork of 
some bush or branch of a tree. In this particular it deviates from the 
rest of the genus, which invariably build in sonde hole, — the bearded and 
crested tits perhaps excepted, — but which remains to be discovered. 
The nest of this bird, however, is equally well secured, being made of 
white moss and liverwort, curiously and firmly wove together with 
wool, covered at the top, wfith only a small hole on the side, and lined 
with a prodigious quantity of feathers. This singular fabric is a work of 
time, taking four or five weeks to complete it. 
*Derham is mistaken in saying that this bird employs “ the webs of 
spiders cast out from them when they take their flight, with which the 
other materials are strongly tied together ^ for I am certain that no 
bird could manage to work with the threads of floating gossamer, 
which would cling to its bill, an(|6»only embarrass it to get rid of them. 
On the contrary, I find in a specimen of the nest now before me, the 
basis is composed of green mosses, {Hypna^ &c.,) neatly and carefully 
felted together with fine wool, while the outside consists for the greater 
part of white and grey tree lichens, {PaTmelicB^ &c.,) in small bits, in- 
termixed with the egg nests of spiders, ^ from the size of a pea and 
upwards, part of which are drawn out to assist in felting ; so that when 
the texture of the nest is stretched, portions of fine gossamer-like 
threads appear among the fibres of the wool, — the circumstance, no 
doubt, which misled Derham. His description, however, is otherwise 
good. Having,” he says, “ neatly built and covered her nest with 
these materials without, she thatches it on the top with branchy tree 
moss, {Hypnwn proliferum,') or such like broad whitish moss, to 
keep out rain, and to dodge the spectator’s eye ; and within she lineth 
‘ Physico Theology, ii. 24, Note, 1 1th edit. 
See Insect Transformations, pp. 93 — 4, 
E 2 
