494 PENDULINE TITMOUSE. 
tribe. All its skill is directed to the formation of 
its nest ; and this curious structure is so satisfactorily 
described by M. de BufFon, that we shall beg leave 
to avail ourselves of his account. 
The most curious fact in the history of these 
birds/’ says the Count, “ is the exquisite art dis- 
played in the construction of their nest. They em- 
ploy the light down found on the buds of the wil- 
low, the poplar, the aspen, the juncago ; in thistles, 
dandelions, flea-banes, cats-tails, &c. With their 
bill they entwine this filamentous substance, and 
form a thick close web, almost like cloth : this they 
fortify externally with fibres and small roots, which 
penetrate into the texture, and in some measure 
form the basis of the nest. They line the inside 
with the same down, but not woven, that their 
young may lie soft : they shut it above to confine 
the warmth, and they suspend it with hemp, with 
nettles, &c. from the cleft of a small pliant branch, 
over running water, that it may rock more gently, 
assisted by the spring of the branch. In this 
situation the brood are well supplied with insects, 
which constitute their chief food ; and they are 
protected from the rats, the lizards, the adders, and 
other reptiles, which are always the most danger- 
ous : and I am convinced that their conduct really 
proceeds from foresight ; for they are naturally 
crafty ; and, according to Monti and Titius, they 
can never be caught in snares ; as the same cir- 
cumstance has been remarked in the bonanas and 
cassigues of the New World, in the grosbeaks of 
