72i 
P A R U S. 
head a fpot of white; chin, throat, and breaft, black; 
belly dirty white; quills brown; tail black; the outer 
web of the exterior feathers white; legs black. Total 
length, fix inches. Said to be from the Cape; which 
Vaillant doubts, as he never met with it there. 
16. Parus caudatus, the long-tailed titmoufe : crown 
white; rail longer than the body. This is a very elegant 
and fingular fpecies. Its length is nearly five inches and 
a half; yet it does not weigh above a quarter of an ounce. 
The bill is very Ihort, thick, and black ; the irides hazel; 
top of the head white, mixed with grey; this is furroun- 
ded on the (houlders by a broad blackilh circle, uniting 
at the back part, and inclining downwards; the fides of 
the head white, terminated with yellow; the under parts 
as far as the breaft white, inclining to reddifh; the fides 
of the back, the rump, the belly, and vent, are of a dull 
rofe-colour, with fome mixture of white ; the fmaller 
wing-coverts are black ; the greater brown, edged with 
rofe-colour; the quills dufky, with pale edges. The 
tail makes up above one half of the bird, being three 
inches and a half long; the feathers of unequal lengths ; 
the four middle ones black; the third on each fide the 
fame, edged with grey ; legs black. 
No bird in England makes fo curious and elegant a 
nelt as this ; it is generally of an oval fhape, with a fmall 
hole in the fide by way of entrance ; the outer materials 
are rnofs, liver-wort, and wool, curioufiy interwoven, and 
completely lined within with the fofteft feathers ; and 
with fo many of them,” fays Mr. Derham, “ that I con- 
fefs I could not but admire how fo fmall a room could 
hold them ; efpecially, that they could be laid fo clofe and 
handfomely together, to afford fufficient room for a bird 
with fo long a tail, and fo numerous an ifl'ue as this bird 
commonly hath.” Derham’s Phyfico-Theology. The 
iieft, thus conftrudfted, is not fufpended from a branch, as 
with fome of this genus, but firmly applied on the fork 
of a bufh, three or four feet from the ground. The fe¬ 
male lays from ten to feventeen eggs, which are grey, 
with a mixture of reddifh, but paler at the large end. 
This bird appears to be common in moft places, but 
particularly fo in orchards and gardens ; biting off the 
buds with great dexterity; is adtive and reftlefs, flying 
backwards and forwards, and running up and down the 
branches in all diredtions with great facility. The brood 
keep together the wdiole winter, not feparating till the 
fpring invites them to pair and forward their race. They 
are recorded by authors as inhabitants of Sweden on the 
one hand, and of Italy on the other, and no doubt occu¬ 
pying the intermediate places. They are faid to be very 
common in Siberia; and by their fulnefs of plumage, 
equalled only by the owl, one would imagine them able 
to bear the cold of the moft rigourous climate. The pair 
figured in the annexed engraving, fig. 2, were brought 
from Sweden, and are remarkably full-feathered, 
17. Parus Capenfis, the Cape titmoufe: head, neck, 
back, belly, and wing-coverts, pale cinereous grey; 
quills black, edged with white; tail black above, and 
white beneath ; legs black. Bill black ; irides red. This 
bird inhabits the Cape of Good Hope ; and our books 
contain the hiftory of its curious bottle-fliaped neft ; but 
Vaillant affuresus that this kind of neft is never built by 
the titmoufe, but by the pinc-pinc, a fpecies of Motacilla, 
and that the titmoufe fometimes feizes upon and inhabits 
it. To whomfoever the neft really belongs, we have given 
a faithful reprefentation of it, and, according to Vaillant, 
of its real owner, on Plate VI. of the article Motacilla, 
vol. xvi. p. 103. 
18. Parus biarmicus, the bearded titmoufe: rufous; 
crowm hoary ; tail longer than the body ; head bearded ; 
vent black. It is about fix inches and a quarter long. 
The bill is orange-colour ; irides yellow'; head pale afh; 
beneath the eye is a tuft of black feathers, ending in a 
point, not unlike a muftachoe or whilker; the hind part 
of the neck, and upper part of the back, are of an 
orange-bay or rufous colour; throat white ; breaft flefli- 
coloured; belly, fides, and thighs, like the back, but 
paler; vent black ; tail two inches and three quarters long, 
of a cuneiform fhape ; and nearly the fame colour with 
the back ; the outer feather is very fhort, dufky at the 
bafe, and nearly white at the end ; the fecond nearly the 
fame, but the end only white for a little way, the third 
only fo juft at the tip; legs black. The female differs 
from the male in wanting the whifkers under the eyes ; 
the crown of the head is ferruginous, fpotted with black ; 
and the vent-feathers are not black, but of the fame co¬ 
lour as the reft of the under parts. 
This fpecies is found in Schonen in Sweden; but is 
fiiy, and rarely feen. It is very common about the Caf- 
piart Sea, and Palus Mseotis, and among the rufhes of 
the rivers which fall into them ; but in no high latitudes 
in Afia ; nor is it found in Siberia. Thefe birds inhabit 
England alfo ; but are obferved only in marfhy fituations, 
where reeds grow', on the feeds of which it feeds, as well 
as on fmall infedfs. They are frequent in the marfhes 
among the reeds between Erith and London ; and are 
again met with in fome marfhy places near Gloucefter, as 
well as among the trails of reeds near Cowbit in Lancafhire. 
In thefe places they are fuppofed to breed ; the neft is com- 
pofed of foft downy materials, fufpended between three 
reeds very ingenioufly drawn together. Kramer fays, 
the neft is built among the willows, and is of the fhape 
of a purfe, made of loft downy materials, fuch as the 
down of the greater cat’s-tail, or that of the afp, hang¬ 
ing the neft on a branch. This bird is faid to be very 
common in Denmark ; and Buffon fuppofes, that a pair 
of thefe, having efcaped from the cage of thecountefs of 
Albemarle, founded their colony in England. This may 
have been the cafe in refpedt to thofe of Erith, being on 
the borders of the Thames, but does not fo well account 
for their being elfewhere ; and Latham thinks they are 
indigenous to us, and have been fo ah origine; and that 
it is merely owing to their frequenting fuch places only 
where reeds grow, that they are fo little known; for, as 
they feldom go farther than a few yards from the reed- 
beds, it is no way furprifing that they were not earlier 
obferved. The reed-beds frequently cover many acres 
of ground ; thefe grow in the water, fo as to be over¬ 
flowed at every tide; and few perfons ever go near them 
except in the time of cutting, which they do in boats; 
for, except at very low tides, one can fcarcely fet a foot- 
ftep within their boundaries. 
Vaillant fays this bird belongs to the fig-eaters, ‘ Mota¬ 
cilla : Edwards calls it the leaft butcher-bird. It was firft 
defcribed by Albin as a titmoufe; but Gmelin has 
adopted the decifion of Edvvards, and calls it Lanius An- 
tiguanus. See Edwards, Plate LV. and the article Lanius, 
vol. xx. p. 55. 
19. Parus Sinenfis, the Chinefe titmoufe : rufty-brown ; 
head and neck paler; quill-feathers and long tail brown, 
edged with black. It inhabits China; is not quite four 
inches long. The bill is black ; the legs are red. 
20. Parus Malabaricus, the Malabar titmoufe : grey 
above; throat black ; breaft, belly, and vent, the colour 
nearly of red orpiment; wing-coverts black, with a pale 
red fpot on fome of the low’er ones ; the fecond quills 
are black ; the next to them half-red, half-black; the 
greater quills black; the two middle tail-feathers are 
black; the others pale red half way from the bafe, the 
other end black; the under tail-coverts pale rufous ; legs 
black: bill black, eyes red. The female has the colours 
lefs bright; all the under parts rufous yellow ; but the 
fpot on the wings and rump are the fame as in the male. 
Inhabits the coaft of Malabar; and is nearly fix inches 
long. See Muscicapa parus, vol. xvi. p. 262, 3. 
21. Parus alpinus, the Alpine titmoufe : black, beneath 
pale rufous fpotted with black ; from the bafe of the bill 
to the neck there is a white line ; hind-claw very long. 
It inhabits the alpine parts of Perfia, and is about the 
fize of the P. caudatus. 
22. Parus Sibiricus, the Siberian titmoufe: grey-brown, 
3 beneath 
