180 LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE. 
vary, building a nest of exquisite workmanship 
both inside and out, and not seeking shelter in 
holes, as we have seen the preceding species to 
do. In every other part of their habits they, 
however, closely resemble their congeners, 
actively seeking their food, which seems almost 
exclusively insects, or their ova and larvse, in 
small troops, following a tract by a call, and 
keeping company with the Blue and Cole Tit- 
mice, to which we have often seen added a 
small company of Goldcrests, altogether forming 
a curious and most interesting assemblage. The 
nest is woven among the branches of some ever- 
green, appearing rather large externally, but is 
beautifully patched over with the mosses and 
lichens furnished by the tree or shrub which 
supports it ; interiorly it is lined with abundance 
of feathers, or soft down ; the form is oval, 
appearing rather suspended, and from its form 
and warmth it, in some districts, gains the popu- 
lar appellation of “ Feather Pokes.” It seems to 
have nearly the same geographic distribution 
with our first five species, and Temminck adds 
Japan to its range. In Scotland it does not 
seem to extend nearly so far northward as the 
Cole Titmouse ; but in the middle districts and 
south is abundant, appearing, when the trees 
begin to be bared of leaves, in troops of from 
five to ten or twelve, and at once catching the eye 
and ear by the lengthened form and shrill low note. 
Forehead, and a broad central stripe running 
to the occiput white, so also are the cheeks, 
