159 
LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE. 
I have never met with the Long-tailed Titmouse so 
common, or seen them so often as to destroy the novelty 
and interest which their appearance never fails to ex¬ 
cite, as they come flitting across my path in rapid suc¬ 
cession. 
They are most sociable little beings, and except during 
the breeding-season, are rarely seen alone: united in 
families during the winter months, they may be seen 
sometimes passing from hedge to hedge, following each 
other in a long string, in restless and scarcely-interrupted 
flight. 
With the exception of the species of Regulus the 
eggs of the Long-tailed Titmouse are smaller than those 
of any other British bird ; they are from seven to ten, 
and sometimes as many as sixteen in number. I state this 
upon authority which I believe to be good, never having 
myself seen more than seven in the same nest. The 
spots are sometimes altogether absent from some speci¬ 
mens or scarcely visible. 
Upon finding the nest of almost every bird, we may 
predict with tolerable certainty the number of eggs it 
will contain, provided the bird has done laying; but 
with the blue and Long-tailed Titmouse it is far differ¬ 
ent ; their eggs vary from seven or eight, to twice that 
number, and even more ; I have found the nest of each 
of them with seven eggs only, and hard sitten, and I 
believe this to be the greatest number laid by one bird ; 
and in confirmation of my opinion I copy the following 
curious account by Mr. Horsfall, in the “ Zoologist.” 
“ Mr. Yarrell, in his account of this bird, states the 
number of eggs to be ten or twelve, and occasionally 
a larger number: I suspect where the greater number 
is found, there will be more than one pair of birds at¬ 
tached to the same nest. I have known several instances 
