18.
+- LONGTAILED
T .
D escription.
Parus caudatus, Lin. Syft. i. p. 342. N° iu — Scop. ann. i. p. 164. N° 247.—
Kram. eh p. 379. N° 6.—Fri/ch. t. 14.— Raii Syn. p. 74.
La Mefange a longue queue, Brif. orn. iii. 570. N° 13.— Buf,oif. v. p. 437.
pi. 19.— PL erd. 502. f. 3.
Long-tailed Titmoufe, Bait Syn. p. 74* A. 5.— Will, orn. p. 242* pi. 43,"“‘
Jib in. ii. pi. 57. f. r|— Br. Zool. i. N° 166.— Ar8. Zool.
Br. Muf. Lev. Mu/.
r p H I S is an elegant fpecies : its length is nearly five inches
and a half.' The bill is Ihort, thick, and brack : the irides
hazel: top of the head white, mixed with grey; this is farrounded -
all round by a broad ftreak of black, like a crown, uniting at
the back part, and palles down the hind part of the neck and
back quite to the rump : the Tides of the head, and all the under
parts as far as the breaft, white, but the laft inclines to reddilh:
the Tides of the back, the rump itfelf, the belly, Tides, and vent,
are of a dull rofe-colour, but have a mixture of white on the
under parts: the lefier wing coverts are black; the greater
brown, edged with rofe-colour : the quills dulky, with pale
edges: the tail makes up above one-half of the bird, being
three inches and a half longs the feathers of very unequal
lengths, for the outer ones are only one inch three quarters * j
the four middle feathers are black; the third on each fide the
fame, edged with grey, and the others black and white: the
legs and claws are black.
» Mol birds with wedged tails prefeive a regular or graduated inequality in
the tail feathers; but this is very Angular, for the two middle feathers are three
inches two lines long, the next on each fide three inches and a half, the third
three inches and a quarter, the fourth three inches, the fifth tw.0 inches feven
lines, and the fixth, or outer one, only one inch three quarters.
No
No bird in thefe parts makes fo curious and elegant a neft as
this : it is generally of an oval lhape, with a fmall hole in the
fide * by way of entrance ; the outer materials are mofs, liverwort,
and wool, curioufly interwoven, and compleatly lined
within with the fofteft feathers. This is not fufpended from a
branch,, as fome of this- genus, but firmly applied on the fork of
a branch, three or four feet from the ground. They lay generally
from ten to leventeen eggs f , which are greyilh, with a mixture
of reddilh, but paler at the large end.
This bird appears to be common enough in moll places,- but
is particularly fo in orchards and gardens, biting off the buds
with great dexterity : is an aftive, reftlefs animal, flying ever
backwards and forwards, and running up and down-the branches
in all' direftions with great facility. The young and old keep
together the whole winter, not feparating till the fpring invites
them to pair and forward their race.
We find them recorded by authors as inhabitants of Sweden-
on the one hand, and Italy on the other, and no doubt occupying
the intermediate places. By their fullnefs of plumage, equalled
only by the Owl, one would think them able to bear the cold
of even a more rigorous climate than the full-mentionedyet
wonderful, like the White Owl, it has likewife been brought
from Jamaica, and both of them appeared to us juft as fully
clothed as in the coldeft regions.
« Fri/cb obferves, that there are fometimes two entrances, the one oppofite
to the other, that the bird may not raffle the feathers in turning round.
+ Often as far as twenty. Seltrne orn, p. n6.
Place and
Mannees.
La