150 
PARIDiE. 
INS ESSO RES. 
DEN TIR 0 ST RES. 
PARI DM. 
COLE TITMOUSE. 
Parus ater. 
PLATE XXXIX. FIG. IV. 
The Cole Titmouse breeds, like all the preceding 
species, in the holes of trees, but with this difference, 
that the hole chosen by it is usually at a less elevation 
from the ground than that adopted by the others. It 
seems indeed to prefer just those places in which its 
young must be exposed to the greatest destruction, holes 
which are very near the ground, or even below its sur¬ 
face. In this neighbourhood the Cole Titmouse is more 
abundant than I have ever seen it elsewhere. For seve¬ 
ral years in succession a pair of them have reared their 
young ones in a hole at the base of a venerable oak tree, 
and Mr. A. Newton tells me, that, as far as he has ob¬ 
served them, they seem to prefer a subterranean nursery 
for their young, and that he has known the nest upwards 
of a foot below the surface of the ground in the decayed 
stump of a tree which had been cut down to a level with 
the earth. Its nest is sometimes built, as mentioned by 
Mr. Selby, in the entrance of a mouse-hole. It is com¬ 
posed of moss, wool, hair, and feathers. Mr. Salmon has 
observed that the Cole Titmouse seems to have a great 
partiality for rabbits’ fur, with which it always lines its 
nest, when in the neighbourhood of a warren, and even, 
when at a distance from one. The eggs are from six to 
eight in number. 
