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all facing that luminary, and at other times perched alternately head and tail so regularly
9 & c g 5 ;

first time witness It.

Cliveden, on the 2nd of May, 1861,
it was composed of moss and cow-hair, outwardly
-like fibres and the empty

sitting In a row
as to astonish those who for the
A nest taken in the garden of Formosa, near
an entrance in the side near the top ;
adorned all over with small pieces of silvery lichen affixed by Dre of cee Sale
cocoons of spiders’ eggs, and so plentifully lined with feathers of various kinds that, ee oe a “ é ie
proved to be about two thousand in number; among them mer observed those of ee iW Key,
Partridge, Barn-door Fowl, Greenfinch, Wood-Pigeon, Duck, Turtle Dove, Thrush, Bet kbird, : 6, Ile om
| the total weight of which was 142 grains ; their colour white, thinly speckled with pale red.

d that in so warm a nest, with no other outlet than the tiny hole forming ie entrance,

a single bird would afford sufficient warmth during the period of hatching ; ont that 16 1S mol so is evidenced
by both male aud female being often found in the same nest, side by side, with uplifted tails, ao as happy
How the twelve or thirteen young, when first hatched, are fed at the bottom of the nest,
and the old birds pass in and out a hundred times in

hence immense destruction is dealt out to sur-

was of large size and of

an oval form, with

tained ten eggs,
It would be suppose

as happy can be.
in utter darkness, I cannot imagine ; yet they are ;
a day, carrying one, two, or three caterpillars at each visit :
rounding insect-life. As the little ones increase in size, they climb to the entrance, and there remain, with
gaping mouths, ready to receive the contributions brought by their parents.

The two sexes are alike in colouring, and may be thus described :—

Plumage very soft and downy, particularly the feathers of the back, where the barbs are loose and decom-
posed. In this respect, and in their short round bills, they differ from all the other species of Tits.

A broad line from the bill down the centre of the forehead to the occiput greyish white; sides of the head
and neck, the nape, and back black ; scapularies and rump tinged with rose-red ; wing-coverts and primaries
black ; secondaries black, narrowly edged with white ; tertiaries brownish black, more broadly margined
with white ; six middle tail-feathers black ; the remainder black-margined externally, and tipped with white,
the white gradually decreasing as the feathers approach the central ones ; under surface and cheeks greyish
white, tinged with rosy brown; upper part of the eyelash red; irides hazel; bill black; legs, feet, and
claws brownish black.

The young of the first year are of a much darker hue, have the forehead greyish brown, and a spot of white
on the crown, in lieu of the broad white stripe of the adult; only a trace of the rose-tint on the scapularies ;
the cheeks blackish brown ; and the under surface grey ; flanks and under tail-coverts vinous ; centre of the
mandibles blackish brown, base and tip yellowish white ; gonys yellowish white on the outward side ; inside
of the mouth and the tongue orange; eye dark brown; eyelash dull rose-pink ; legs pink ; toes darker.

As the young advance in age, the fleshy gape disappears, the white crown becomes less conspicuous, and
the tail prolonged to such an extent that, at a month old, it exceeds in length those of the parents ; and
thus the tail of the young bird is longer than that of the old. This difference in the length of the tail,
between youth and maturity, is observable in other groups of birds. I may mention as a case in point, that I
have found it to occur among some of the Trochilide, several species of which have the tail much longer
during the first two years of their existence than in after-life.

The Plate represents the Long-tailed Tit, nest, and young of the natural size.

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