PENDULINE TITMOUSE. 495 
Abyssinia, and in other birds which hang their 
nests from the end of a branch. That of the pen- 
duline titmouse resembles sometimes a bag;, some- 
times a shut purse, sometimes a flattened bagpipe, 
&c. The aperture is made in the side, and almost 
always turned towards the water, and placed some- 
times higher, sometimes lower ; it is nearly round, 
and only an inch and a half in diameter, or even 
less, and commonly surrounded by a brim more or 
less protuberant, though this is sometimes want- 
ing. The female lays only four or five eggs, which 
falls much short of the ordinary fecundity of the 
titmice ; but in its port, its voice, its bill, and in 
the principal attributes, the penduline resembles 
the others. These eggs are as white as snow, the 
shell extremely thin, and they are almost transpa- 
rent. The bird has generally two hatches annually; 
the first in April or May, and the second in the 
month of August. There is little probability that 
it makes a third. 
“ These nests of the penduline titmouse are seen 
in the fens near Bologna, in those of Tuscany, on 
the banks of Thrasymene ; and are exactly the 
same with what occur in Lithuania, Volhinia, Po- 
land, and Germany. The peasants regard them 
with superstitious veneration : one of these nests 
is suspended near the door of each cottage, and 
the possessors hold it as a protector from thun- 
der, and its little architect as a sacred bird. We 
might almost regret that Nature is not more 
