144 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
conifer woods, the Crested Tit is likewise said to affect birch- 
trees, and in winter to wander into plantations and gardens ; 
in some parts of the Continent it breeds in oak-trees, and in 
the vicinity of Gibraltar in the cork-woods. 
Mr. Seebohm says that in the pine-woods of Arcachon, in 
South-western France, it is the commonest bird, and is often 
found in company with other Tits, Gold-Crests, Fire-Crests, 
and Creepers. He says: “They are very active birds, flitting 
from branch to branch, running over the pine-cones, in search 
of insects ; and they seem to have taken a leaf out of the book 
of their associates the Creepers, and may often be seen on the 
trunks of the pines, where they search for insects in the 
crevices of the bark. Sometimes they run up the stems of the 
pines exactly as the Creepers do. It is not difficult to 
recognise the Crested Tit on the wing. In the bright sun- 
shine, which is such a distinguishing feature of the Arcachon 
winters, the white edges of the black feathers of its head are 
generally very conspicuous when flying, and often enough when 
the little bird is hanging under a branch of a lofty pine, the 
outline of its erected crest is easy to see against the sky. The 
surest way, however, of detecting its presence is to listen to its 
note. The call note is a not very loud si, si, si, which seems to 
be common to many of the Tits ; but this is often followed by 
a spluttering note difficult to express on paper, which, as far as 
I know, is peculiar to the Crested Tit. It is a lame attempt at 
a trill, a sort of ptur, re, re, re, ree. The pine-trees in the 
Arcachon forest are tapped for their resin. Three or four 
longitudinal scores are made on the trunks ; and these are 
lengthened as they dry up until they reach a considerable 
height from the ground. When the tree gets old the weather 
rots the part where the bark has been removed, and the trunk 
swells out and cracks, and all kinds of convenient nooks and 
crannies are formed, where Tils and other birds, who like such 
situations for their nests, can breed. Some of these trees in the 
old forests of La Teste attain a diameter of four and even five 
feet ; and occasionally one comes across a fine old oak. The 
Crested Tits seem, however, to prefer the pines ; and although 
the Great and the Coal-Tits are very fond of searching for 
insects on the ground amongst the fallen oak-leaves, I have 
never seen the Crested Tit on the ground. In the pine-forests 
