CRESTED TITMOUSE. 
141 
called Avingarsak. If so, it probably inhabits the continent 
of North America, from sea to sea. 
The Crested Titmouse is six inches long, and seven inches 
and a half in extent. The whole upper parts, a dull cinereous 
or lead colour, except the front, which is black, tinged with 
reddish ; whole lower parts, dirty white, except the sides under 
the wings, which are reddish orange ; legs and feet, light blue ; 
bill, black, short, and pretty strong ; wing-feathers, relieved 
with dusky on their inner vanes ; eye, dark hazel ; lures, 
white ; the head, elegantly ornamented with a high, pointed, 
almost upright crest ; tail, a little forked, considerably concave 
below, and of the same colour above as the back ; tips of the 
wings, dusky ; tongue, very short, truncate, and ending in 
three or four sharp points. The female cannot be distinguished 
from the male by her plumage, unless in its being something 
duller, for both are equally marked with reddish orange on the 
sides under the wings, which some foreigners have made the 
distinguishing mark of the male alone. 
The nest is built in a hollow tree, the cavity often dug by 
itself ; the female begins to lay early in May ; the eggs are 
usually six, pure white, with a few very small specks of red 
near the great end. The whole family, in the month of July, 
hunt together, the parents keeping up a continual chatter as 
if haranguing and directing their inexperienced brood.* 
* This beautiful and attractive race of birds, the genuine Titmice, have a 
geographical distribution over the whole world, — South America, New Holland, 
and the islands in the South Pacific Ocean, excepted. In the latter countries, 
they seem represented by the genus Fardalotus, yet however very limited in 
numbers. They are more numerous in temperate and even northern climates, 
than near the Tropics ; the greater numbers, both as to individuals and species, 
extend over Europe. In this country, when the want of foliage allows us 
to examine their manners, they form one of the most interesting of our winter 
visitants. I call them visitants only ; for during summer they are occupied 
with the duties of incubation in retirement, amid the depths of the most 
solitary forests ; and only at the commencement of winter, or during its rigours, 
become more domesticated, and flock in small parties, the amount of their 
broods, to our gardens, and the vicinity of our houses ; several species together, 
