P A R U S. 
722 
but they are never fo numerous as about the end of au¬ 
tumn; when thofe which live during the fummer in the 
forefts or on the mountains are driven, by the cold and 
fnovvs, from their retreat, and defcend in quell of food 
into the cultivated plain?, near habitations. During all 
the winter months, and even in the beginning of the 
fpring, they fubfift on dry feeds, and on fragments of 
infefls, which they find by ferreting the trees. They 
alfo crop the opening buds, and eat the caterpillars’ eggs, 
particularly thofe which are feen round the fmall bran¬ 
ches ranged like a feries of rings, or .the wreaths of a 
fpiral: they alfo fearch for fmall dead birds, or fuch as 
are exhaufted by difeafe, or entangled in fnares, and, in 
fliort, all thofe incapable of refinance, though of their 
own fpecies; they feize them with all the ferocity of the 
carnivorous tribes, pierce their fkull, and feed upon the 
brains. Nor is this cruelty palliated by-want; for (like 
the butcher-bird) they are guilty of it even when they 
are abundantly fupplied with other food. In fummer 
they eat not only almonds, walnuts, infefts, &c. but all 
forts of nuts, chefnuts, beech-mall, figs, the feeds of 
hemp, of panic, and other fmall feeds. It is obferved 
that thofe bred in the cage are fond of blood, tainted 
meat, rancid fat, and tallow melted or burnt by the 
flame of a candle. It would feem that the Hate of do- 
meftication vitiates their tafte. 
In general, the titmice, though voracious, and fond 
of carrion, love fociety, and unite in numerous flocks ; 
if they are parted by any accident, they mutually call 
on each other, and foon re-afl’emble. The unions which 
they annually form in the fpring are of a clofer nature, 
and are very produdtive. No genus of birds is fo prolific 
as that of the titmice ; and fo well known is this fadl in 
England, that it is ufual to call a little prolific woman a 
titmoufe. No birds attack the owl with fuch intrepi¬ 
dity ; they are ever the firft to dart on the nocturnal 
foe, and they aim conftantly at the eyes; their adtion is 
attended with a fwell of the feathers, and with a rapid 
fuccelfion of violent attitudes and rapid movements, 
which powerfully mark the bitternefs of their rage. 
When they are caught, they bite keenly the finger of 
the bird-catcher, ftrike furioully with their bill, and in¬ 
vite, by their loud fcreams, the other birds of their fpe¬ 
cies, which thus alfo fall into the fnare, and in their 
turn decoy others. Lottinger affirms that, in the moun¬ 
tains of Lorraine, when the weather is foggy, forty or 
fifty dozens may be caught in a morning with no apparatus 
butacall, a fmall tent, arid a cleft flick. They may alfo be 
enfnared with various gins, with the trap, with the noofe, 
with lime-twigs, or with a fmall lark-net; or they may 
be intoxicated, as the ancients pradlifed, with meal 
foaked in wine. Such are the numerous methods of de- 
flroying thefe fmall birds ; and almofl all of thefe are 
fuccefsfully employed. The reafon is, that people who 
keep bees fuffer much from the titmice, which make great 
havoc among thefe ufeful infedls, efpecially when they 
have young. Their extreme vivacity drives them into 
every kind of fnare, efpecially on their arrival; for at 
that time they are very tame, they lodge in the bufhes, 
and flutter about the roads, allowing one to get near 
them ; but afterwards they gain experience, and become 
more fhy. 
They lay from eighteen to twenty eggs : fome depofit 
thefe in the holes of trees, which they round and fmooth 
with their bill, and fafliion them internally into the pro¬ 
per form ; others lay them in ball-ffiaped nells, which 
are of a magnitude very difproportionate to fo fmall a 
bird. We might alfo fuppofe that they previoufly reckon 
the number of the eggs, and that they anticipate the af- 
fedtion to their expedted offspring. Hence the precau¬ 
tions ufed in conftrudling the neft, the folicitude which 
fome fpecies difcover in lufpending it from the end of a 
branch, and the attention in feledting the proper mate¬ 
rials, fuch as fler.der grafs, fmall roots, mofs, thread, 
hair, wool, cotton, feathers, down, &c. They are able 
to provide fubfiftence for their numerous family, which 
implies not only indefatigable adlivity, but much ad~ 
drefs, induftry, and (kill. If other birds attack their 
progeny, they will make an intrepid defence : will dart 
on the enemy;, and courage renders their weaknefs for¬ 
midable. It may be worth remarking; that the titmice 
bear fome analogy to the ravens, the magpies, and the 
Ihrikes, in regard to the comparative force of their bill 
and their little talons, in their muftachoes round the bill, 
in their appetite forflefh, in their manner of tearing their 
food into morfels before they eat. The titmice alfo 
fight among jhemfelves, and fometimes devour each 
other. If feveral titmice be fucceffively put in the fame 
cage, the one firft domefticated will attack the new co¬ 
mers, and will endeavour to kill them, and fuck their 
brains ; a repaft they are extremely fond of. 
Gmelin enumerates thirty-two fpecies ; of which Dr. 
Turton has omitted one, but we do not know to what 
genus he has carried it. Vaillant has added four pofitive 
African fpecies, and two doubtful ones. 
1. Parus bicolor, the two-coloured titmoufe : head 
crefted, on the fore part black, body cinereous, beneath 
light rufous. In this fpecies the head is furnifhed with 
a long pointed crell, or toupee; Pennant, therefore, calls 
it the toupet-titmoufe. The bill is black, and on the 
forehead, juft over it, is a black fpot: legs lead-colour. 
The female differs from the male in having the belly and 
fides nearly white. This bird inhabits Carolina and 
Virginia, where it is found the whole year, and keeps 
chiefly in the woods; it is alfo met with in Denmark 
and the fouthern parts of Greenland, where it is called 
avingarfak. It flies fwiftly; and during flight folds up 
the wing frequently, when it utters a weak note. Length 
fix inches. 
2. Parus criftatus, the crefted titmoufe: head crefted; 
collar black ; belly white. Length four inches and three 
quarters: bill blackilh; forehead and fides of the head 
white. On the top of the head are long feathers, of a 
black colour, margined with white, which, when ele¬ 
vated, form a beautiful creft, pointed at the top; the 
chin and throat black, from which paffes a line of black 
to the hind-head, bounding the wdfite on the cheeks at 
the under part; on the ears an irregular fpot of black ; 
the upper parts of the body, wings, and tail, are rufous 
grey; the under parts white; the fides have a rufous 
tinge; legs lead-colour. This bird is found in many 
parts of France, efpecially in Normandy, and the dif- 
trifts between that and Sweden. It is in the deep fo- 
refts that it is chiefly met with, efpecially among the 
evergreen trees, infomuch that it is fcented with their 
refinous odour. It is faid to be fond of folitude; never 
mixing with other birds, nor in numbers even with its 
own fpecies; and will not be tamed; whence its habits 
are little known. See the annexed Plate, fig. i. 
3. Parus major, the great titmoufe, or ox-eye : head 
black, temples white, nape yellow. The head is cu- 
rioufly coloured; the beak is generally black, with ftrong 
hairs at its bafe ; the head and throat are of the fame 
colour, the belly of a yellowilh-green; the back and 
coverts of the wings green, and the rump inclining to 
blue ; the tail is black, but touched with blue at its ex¬ 
terior edges; infides dulky, legs lead-coloured. This 
fpecies weighs little more than an ounce, though it is al- 
moft fix inches in length. It is found in Europe, Alia, 
and Africa, and is very common in this country, fre¬ 
quenting gardens and orchards, where it does a deal of 
mifchief, by picking off the tender buds of trees. The 
neft is made of mofs, lined with hair, and placed in the 
hole of a wall, or of a tree. The female lays fix or eight 
or ten eggs, which are white, fpotted with a rufty kind 
of colour, and fo exaflly like thofe of a nut-hatch, as 
not to be diftinguiffied from thern. The common note 
of the great titmoufe is a fort of chapter, but in the fpring 
it affumes a greater variety, a ftirill whiftle, and a very 
Angular noife, fomething like the whetting of a law ; but 
thefe 
