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TITMICE. 
while others prefer the depths of the most retired 
forests. One of our native species, however, the 
aquatic type, prefers the vicinity of water and 
the shelter of reedbrakes. They are every where 
favourites with the ornithologist, who studies 
them in their natural haunts, amusing him by 
their active and restless motions, or instructing 
him by the ingenuity they display in selecting 
a breeding place, or in procuring their food. 
Insects are their proper and most ordinary nour- 
ishment, and their search after them, or their 
eggs and larva, is incessant, climbing and hang- 
ing, in every imaginable attitude, among the 
moss-covered branches of trees, seeking for them 
among their roots, or on the ground, and care- 
fully inspecting the crevices of rocks, clothed 
with our natural creepers. In addition to this 
supply, they can also resort to seeds and kernels, 
and in winter the barnyard is not an uncommon 
locality for one or two species ; carrion also is 
sometimes resorted to, and if kept in confinement 
a little fresh meat will be found to keep them in 
good and healthy condition. The aquatic species 
find an ample support, and, no doubt, a good 
substitute for insects, in the aquatic molusca, 
which creep upon, and are abundant among reeds 
or fenny districts. They breed in the holes of 
trees, banks, old walls, &c. and sometimes in 
situations of much publicity, where there is a 
constant thoroughfare, and even much noise and 
working near. The hole is sometimes excavated 
or enlarged by the labours of the bird, and is 
