P A R U S. ' yon 
beneath whitifii; belly rufous-grey; lower part of the 
neck black in the middle ; fides pale rufous. It is found 
sn Siberia, and is about five inches long. 
P. abdomine crifloque albis. This differs in the 
length of the tail, as well as in the chin and throat; the 
black on which is not fo broad, nor is the white which 
borders it fo confpicuous: the belly alfo has no rufous 
tinge; vent white. This was brought home in one of 
our circumnavigating Clips, but from what particular re¬ 
gion is uncertain. 
23. Parus kniaefcik, the white titmoufe: plumage on 
the upper parts white; beneath, ocular line, and collar, 
livid. Inhabits the oak-forefts of Siberia. 
24. Parus Hudfonius, the Hudfon’s-bay titmoufe: red- 
difh-brown ; back cinereous ; throat black; band under 
the eyes and breaft white ; fides rufous. It inhabits Hud- 
fon’s Bay, and is about five inches and a half long; 
weight only half an ounce. Bill black ; head ferruginous 
brown ; beneath the eyes a white ftreak ; back greenifii 
afh-c'olour; breaft and belly white; fides of the belly 
ferruginous ; wings brown ; quills edged with cinereous ; 
tail rounded at the end, coloured as the quills ; rump 
rufous white. All the feathers of this bird are long and 
loofe, and of a black colour at the bafe, being only tipped 
with the colours above mentioned : legs black; middle 
and hind claws twice as long as the others. The male 
and female are alike. This bird braves the fevereft win¬ 
ters of Hudfon’s Bay : Forfter informs us, that it breeds 
about our fettlements there, and lays five eggs. It is 
frequent among the juniper-bufhes, and is called by the 
natives peelie-lie-he-fiijh. It builds in the month of 
June; and makes a neft of grafs, lined with foft feathers : 
the young fly the beginning of July. In the fummer it 
fubfifts on flies and infeds, and in the winter on berries 
and feeds. 
25. Parus macrocephalus, the great-headed titmoufe : 
black: breaft orange ; belly yellowifli; head tumid ; fpot 
on the front and wings, and two outmoft tail-feathers, 
white. It is about fourinches and a half long. The bill 
is fmall, pale, and furnifhed with briftles at the bafe; the 
head very full with black feathers, appearing very difpro- 
portionate to the fize of the bird; neck and back dufky 
black; on the forehead, juft over the bill, a fpot of 
white; on the wing a bar of white ; under part buff yel¬ 
low, with a mixture of black on the thighs ; tail black, 
long, and rounded in fhape ; the two outer feathers white, 
with the ends black, divided obliquely ; the next white 
within near the tip ; legs dufky brown. See the Plate, 
fig. 3. The female is pale brown above ; all beneath yel¬ 
low ; the bill and fpot over it are as in the male ; quills 
dufky. Found by Capt. Cook in Queen Charlotte’s Bay, 
New Zealand ; and called there mirro mirro. 
( 3 . It varies with the breaft entirely of a bright fcarlet. 
26. Parus NovaeSeelandiae, theNew-Zealand titmoufe: 
red-afh, beneath rufous-grey; eyebrows white; two mid¬ 
dle tail-feathers black ; the lateral ones in the middle 
with a fquare black fpot. It is five inches long. The 
bill is brown, tipt with black ; legs dufky-black. It was 
found at Dufky-bay, New Zealand; where it is called 
toe-toe. 
27. Parus pendulinus, the penduline titmoufe : head 
ferruginous; ocular band black ; quill and tail-feathers 
brown, and edged on each fide ferruginous. It is about 
fourinches and a half long : it inhabits Europe and Si¬ 
beria, frequenting watering places for the fake of aquatic 
infeds, on which it feeds. Thefe birds difplay great art 
in the conftrudion of their nefts ; they employ the light 
down found on the buds of the willows, the poplar, on 
thirties, and the dandelion : with their bill they entwine 
this filamentous fubftance, and form a thick clofe web, 
almoft like cloth': this they fortify externally with fibres 
and fhort roots, which penetrate into the texture, and, 
in fome meafure, compofe the bafis of the neft : they line 
the infide with the fame down, but not woven, that their 
yojung may lie foft: they fliut it above to confine the 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1277. 
■* 
warmth, and they fufpend it with hemp, nettles, &c. 
from the cleft of a fmall pliant branch over fome ftream, 
that it may rock more gently, afiifted by the fpring of the 
branch. In this fituation the brood are well fupplied with 
infers, which conftitute their chief food, and, atthe fame 
time, they are protected from their enemies. The neft 
foinetimes refembles a bag, and fometimes a fhort purfe. 
The aperture is made in the fide, and is almoft always 
turned towards the water. It is nearly round, and only 
an inch and a half in diameter; and is frequently fur- 
rounded by a brim. Thefe nefts are found in the fens 
of Bologna, Tufcany, Lithuania, Poland, and Ger¬ 
many. The peafants regard them with fuperftitious ve¬ 
neration, one of them being ufually fufpended near the 
door of each cottage, as a charm againft lightning. 
28. Parus Narbonenfis, the Languedoc titmoufe: ru¬ 
fous-grey ; crown hoary ; wings and tail blackifh, edged 
with rufous; primary quill-feathers edged with white. 
It inhabits France, and in manners it may vie with the 
preceding, being not inferior in regard to the conftruc- 
tion of the neft, which is large in refped to the fize of 
the bird, being in fhape like, and not much lefs than, the 
egg of an oftrich; the longeft diameter is fix inches, the 
fhqrteft three and a half. It fixes this neft on a forked 
twig of the poplar, furrounding it with wool, employing 
the downy part of the poplar-flower, and fuch other ma¬ 
terials as the laft fpecies makes ufe of. This is likewife 
open only on one fide ; but the entrance is ftill more cu¬ 
rious, for it conftruds a kind of portico over it, projed- 
ing almoft three quarters of an inch, whereby there is an 
additional fecurity againft the accidents of wind, rain, 
and other inconveniences. It is called at Languedoc the 
wild canary-bird. Its length is about four inches. 
29. Parus cela, the Guiana titmoufe: black ; bill white: 
fpot on the wings and bafe of the tail yellow. It inhabits 
Guiana. 
30. Parus amatorius, the amorous titmoufe : blackifh- 
blue ; longitudinal fpot on the middle of the wings half 
yellow, half rufous. Five inches and a half long. It in¬ 
habits Northern Afia, and is remarkable for the mutual 
aft'edion of the two fexes. The bill is black at the bafe, 
and tipt with orange. 
31. Parus coccineus, the fcarlet titmoufe: cinereous; 
breaft, fpot on the wings, rump, and lateral tail-feathers 
on the hind part, fcarlet. The bill and legs black, vent 
yellowifli. 
32. Parus Indicus, the Indian titmoufe: above cine¬ 
reous, beneath ferruginous ; chin and throat dirty white; 
limbs dirty brown. It inhabits India. 
African Species from Vaillant.— Monfieur Le Vaillant is 
of opinion, that many birds have been included in this 
genus, which have no reference to it whatever. He fays 
that the fpecies defcribed by Kolbe as inhabiting the 
Cape are not to be found there, and that he has omitted 
the three fpecies which really are African tirmice. All 
the birds that Sonnerat defcribes as titmice, Vaillant re- 
jeds entirely; and about three parts of thofe of other au¬ 
thors, and efpecially all thofe laid to be found in Ame¬ 
rica ; for he pofitivelv aflerts, that the titmoufe is not at 
all an inhabitant of the new continent. 
He denies what Briflon aflerts, that the tongue of the 
titmoufe is pointed like a hair-pencil, and that it climbs 
trees like the woodpeckers. The tongue of the titmoufe 
is cut fquare, and terminates in four thin fliarp fibres at 
equal diftances; thefe are ufeful in getting out of the Ihell 
the feeds which the bird has already broken with its bill; 
thefe fibres are cartilaginous he fays, and have no fimila- 
rity to briftles, or the hairs of a pencil. He then pro¬ 
ceeds to give the marks by which, lie fays, they are really 
diftinguilhed; and defcribes the only three fpecies he 
met with from the mod foutliern point of Africa to the 
tropic. 
The titmice have a mufcular body, very flelhy in pro¬ 
portion to their height; their feet are ftrong, and gene¬ 
rally thick; the tarfus is fliort; the toes long and hooked, 
8 Y proper 
