THE LONG-TAILED, OR BOTTLE-TIT. 
Busy, prying, industrious as any of its brethren, this tit 
with the long tail stands pre-eminent as a nest-builder. 
Mr. Yarrell, the distinguished naturalist, says of the bottle- 
tit’s nest, it is an example of ingenious construction, combining- 
beauty of appearance with security and warmth. In shape it 
is nearly oval, with one small hole in the upper part of the 
side, by which the bird enters. I have never seen more than 
one hole. The outside of this nest sparkles with silver-coloured 
lichens adhering to a firm texture of moss and wool ; the inside 
profusely lined with soft feathers. The nest is generally placed 
in the middle of a thick bush, and so firmly fixed, that it is 
mostly found necessary to cut out the portion of the bush 
containing it, if desirous of preserving the natural appearance 
and form of the nest. In this species the female is known to 
be the nest-maker, and to have been occupied a fortnight or 
three weeks in the completion of her habitation. 
The long-tailed tit, however, is not the only bird that builds 
a bottle-shaped nest. There is a sparrow peculiar to Hindos- 
tan, called by the natives “ baya,” who not only weaves a 
“ bottle ” of long grass, but that it may be further secured 
from the attacks of serpents and monkeys, hangs it at the end 
of a slight branch. ISTor is this the most wonderful feature of 
the “ baya’s ” nest. To quote the words of a naturalist, “ the 
nest contains several apartments appropriated to different 
purposes ; in one the hen performs the office of incubation ; 
another, consisting of a small thatched roof and covering a 
perch, without a bottom, is occupied by the male, who, with 
his chirping note, cheers the female during her maternal 
labours.” 
Bechstein is the only naturalist who has placed the bottle- 
tit in the list of British song or cage birds. Indeed, it is no 
easy matter to reconcile the little bird to the “ place ” assigned 
it. It is as tenacious of its liberty as a young gorilla, and 
will, unless food be forced into its mouth, prefer starvation to 
your tame prison fare. 
The number of eggs laid by the bottle-tit is very large, — ten, 
twelve, and even fourteen of the tiny white red-speckled things 
being found in one “ bottle.” The young brood of the year 
keep company with the parent birds during their first autumn 
and winter, and generally crowd close together on the same 
branch at roosting-time, looking, when thus huddled up, 
like a shapeless lump of feathers only. They have several 
notes, on the sound of which they assemble and keep together. 
191 
