the same time remark that many generic divisions are now
proposed and received among ornithological systematic writers,
which do not, when compared with the present example,
appear to possess distinctive characters equal in value to
those exhibited as belonging to Mecistura.
The Long-tailed Tit is a well-known and common species,
that may be seen generally wherever there are woods, thickets,
shrubberies, and tall hedges. It remains in this country the
whole year, and in its habits among trees it resembles other
Tits, being active and lively, almost incessantly in motion,
hopping or flitting from branch to branch in search of food ;
but is more select in its choice than other Tits appear to be,
and confines itself almost, if not entirely, to insects and their
larvse. The nest of this species is another example of ingenious
construction, combining beauty of appearance with
security and warmth. In shape it is nearly oval, with one
small hole in the upper part of the side by which the bird
enters. I have never seen more than one hole. The outside
of this nest sparkles with silver-coloured lichens adhering
to a firm texture of moss and wool, the inside profusely lined
with soft feathers. The nest is generally placed in the middle
of a thick bush, and so firmly fixed, that it is mostly
found necessary to cut out the portion of the bush containing
it, if desirous of preserving the natural appearance and form
of the nest. In this species, the female is known to be the
nest maker, and to have been occupied from a fortnight to
three weeks in completing her habitation. In this she deposits
from ten to twelve eggs; but a larger number are occasionally
found : they are small and white, with a few pale red
specks, frequently quite plain, measuring seven lines in
length, and five lines in breadth. The young family of the
year keep company with the parent birds during their first
autumn and winter, and generally crowd close together on
the same branch at roosting time, looking, when thus huddied
up, like a shapeless lump of feathers only. These birds
have several notes, on the sound of which they assemble and
keep together; one of these call-notes is soft and scarcely
audible ; a second is a louder chirp or twitter, and a third is
of a hoarser kind.
The Long-tailed Tit is a common bird in the southern and
western counties of England from Sussex to Cornwall. Mr.
Eyton includes it in his Catalogue of the Birds of Shropshire
and North Wales ; and Mr. W. Thompson says it is diffused
in Ireland through the wooded districts of the north
particularly, but not in great numbers. It is found also in
all the counties north of London, from Middlesex to Northumberland
; and Mr. Macgillivray mentions its occurrence in
the vicinity of Edinburgh. I t is resident all the year in
Sweden ; and inhabiting Siberia and Russia, is spread southward
over the whole European continent even to Italy, where
it is also common, and resident all the year. I t is observed
to be particularly abundant in Holland; and M. Temminck
includes it in his Catalogue of the Birds of Japan.
The beak is black ; the irides hazel; the top of the head,
nape, and cheeks, greyish white ; over the eye, and descending
from thence over the ear-coverts, is a black stripe, narrow,
and sometimes said to be entirely wanting in old males, but
broader in females ; on the upper part of the back a triangular
patch of black, one point of which is directed downwards
; the shoulders, scapularies, and part of the rump,
tinged with rose red ; wing-coverts black; wing-primaries
greyish black ; the tertials broadly edged with white ; upper
tail-coverts black; the three pair of central tail-feathers very
Ion«- and black ; the next three pair each half an inch shorter
than the feather on the same side which precedes it, and all
six are black on the inner web, and white on the outer; the
whole of the under surface of the body greyish white ; the
sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts, tinged with rose colour;