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The blue Titmouje or Nun. Parus cseruleus.
Numb. XLVII.
ITi? fr° m the Point oF the Bil1 to Ae end of
the Tail; its Breadth, when the Wings are expanded, feven Inches
and a half; weight fix Drams; its Bill ihort, thick, iharp, and of a
dusky Colour, the Tongue broad, ending in four Filaments; the Legs of
a lead Cokfur; the outermoft Toes are fattened to the middle ones; the MB ° f, an ^ « C o l o u r , encompaffed with a circle of white, as it were
a Wreath or Coronet; to the white Circle fucceeds another parti-colour d,
encompaffing the Throat and hinder part of the Head, above being al-
moft of ^ e fame Colour with the Head, towards the Throat and under
the Throat, black; below this Circle on the Neck is a white Spot. From the
Bill a black Line paifes thro’ the Eyes to the hinder Part of the Head: the
Cheeks are white; the Back is of a yellowiih green; the Sides, Breaft
and Belly yellow, iave that a whitiih Line produced as far as the Vent
divides the Breaft in two. In the Cock Bird the Head is more blue, in
the Hen and young ones lefs.
The tips of the quill-Feathers next the Body are white, as alfo the
the outer Edges of the foremoft from the midde Part upward; the covert
Feathers of the Wings are blue, the inmoft of which, with their white
lips, make a white Line crofs the Wing. The Tail is two Inches long,
in which |are twelve Feathers of a blue Colour, only the Edges of the
outermoft Feathers are a little white. The quill Feathers in each Wing are
in number eighteen, befides the outermoft ihort one.
Thefe Birds are very beneficial to the Trees, in deftroying the young
Caterpillars, and Eggs of thofe Infefts which deftroy the Fruit. I have
obferved them ^ tear the Webs, to Pieces, and. eat the Caterpillars which
nave been enclofed in them. ‘
N