LIEUT.-COL. DUTHIE ON BRITISH ABODE OF CRESTED TITMOUSE. 1 49 
XV.— The British Abode of the Crested Titmouse. 
By Lieut.-Colonel W. H. M. Duthie. 
(Read loth December, 1896.) 
The bright, active family of Paridse is represented in the British 
Islands by six kinds which live and breed with us : four of these are 
common, and probably well known to the least observant of bird 
observers. They are the Great Titmouse or Oxeye (Parus 7 najor)., a 
handsome bold bird, whose harsh monotonous voice, like the rasping 
noise of a file, is one of the signs of the coming spring; the smaller 
and more sombre Cole Titmouse (Parus Britannicus); the brightly- 
tinted Blue Tit or Blue Bonnet (Parus cezruleus); and the Long¬ 
tailed Titmouse (Parus rosea), the vagrant of the tribe, which is perio¬ 
dically met with in companies of ten or a dozen, foraging along the 
hedgerows, or wandering through the woodlands, kept together by a 
shrill call-note, which is uttered by one or other of the party, as they 
thread their way in graceful flight through the mazy intricacies of the 
trees. Then there is the Marsh Titmouse (Parus fatustris), which is 
not so common, being more local in its habitat than the four above- 
mentioned birds; and lastly the Crested Titmouse (Parus oristatus), 
which is more local still, its British abode being confined to one 
locality in Scotland, a bit of country in the valley of the Spey, where 
remnants of old primeval forests are still in existence; here it is by 
no means uncommon, but the extent of ground suited to its taste is 
so limited, that it may fairly be classed among our rare British Birds. 
The hope of seeing its nesting haunt, and at the same time visiting a 
district so full of interest to the naturalist as that in which the Crested 
Tits make their home, was a double attraction to us, and one after¬ 
noon at the end of April, we found ourselves journeying along on the 
Highland Railway, past wooded straths and grey misty mountains, 
across wide wastes of desolate, treeless moorland, and down to woods 
again to the quarters which we had chosen for our base of operations, 
a small village on the edge of a forest tract. The next morning we 
were early a-foot on a road which follows the course of a mountain 
stream, where, along both banks, white cottages with neatly fenced 
gardens extended in straggling lines, or nestled in groups under the 
shelter of pine woods. 
The mark of spring was impressed on everything around us; it 
was seen in the blossom of the cherry trees, in the newly-burst buds 
of the birches, and in the wayside flowers, it was heard in the wild 
chorus of song-birds, and in the humming of bees, and the river, 
rushing down in heavy spate, brought a message from the hills that 
the snow was melting, and that another winter had passed away. 
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