ha n t been procured, al d I am very dou tf Was to the ecurrence of this bird out of he
as no I O 3 y I t

On Tue sdé Ly I had the pleasure of Ot bserv
this city. Their pr esence Was betrayed

cases where a specimen
primeval forests of the north :—
some Scotch firs near Craig Lockhart, within about an hour’s walk of |
and incessantly repeated notes the discovery had been made it was no easy
owing to ce
they bore a striking resemblance to the more
ifter my arrival they appeared to be

ing se sveral Crested Titmice among

yut even after
by their peculiar but even

pect, as well as in the
matter to keep the birds in view, | aac I the

: ea.
continual restlessness, 1n which res
amusing variety of their motions, familiar Blue Titmouse.
They kept pretty near together, and for the first twenty minutes or sO a

making but a cursory exam! ination of t ly flitting from branch to branch, and seemingly
‘A i Qh)
obtaining but little in the way of food.

» sheltered part of the hill-side.

clump of Scotch firs standing alone on a more § y
bo had been sent out to ex} lore, or whether they pr eferred the comparative

he trees, constaut

At length, without any apparent cause, they all flew off to a small

had received

 

he

 

signal from one of their number
shelter of their new position, it 18 impossib
an abundant supply of food; for not only did they -onfine themselves
to be directing their attention almost exclusively to the ee es of the smaller branches, to which they

le to say ; at at anv rate it was evident that they had now found

rle tree, but they also appeared

 

one sil

back downwards, at the same time making vigorous use of f their bills In

might frequently be seen hanging,
lves when I left the spot about an half an hour later,

this manner they were still continuing to employ themse
dly, but in vain, endeavoured to ascertain the nature
Although I broke these from the same tree by means of a long stick,
e side of the tree (which, however, was one of

having repeate of their food, by examining such of the
5

smaller branches as could be obtained.
the birds were so little alarmed as merely to fly to the opposit
considerable spread), and there remain curiously eyeing me until
Mar. 3, 1862.”

“Tn its habits and actions,”

in the branches of a tree above your head, it is only by the crest that you can distinguish it.
m for hours, as in busy pursuit of insects they thronged

the interruption ceased.—Edinburgh,

says Mr. Hewitson, *‘ the Crested resembles the Blue Tit so closely that, when
It is equally
noisy, and always on the move. I have watched the
the branches of some noble English-looking trees, which adorn the outskirts of the forest at Kissingen in
Bavaria. They were equally abundant amongst the pine trees ;
eggs, I had the pleasure of discovering one of their nests, and of thus learning something of their nidifica-
tion. When trees are felled in the forest, their trunks are left standing about two feet above the

and although it was too late to obtain their

ground; and in the decayed wood of one of these a hole was scooped to contain the nest of which I
have spoken—just such a situation as would have been chosen by the Coal Tit. The nest was formed
of dry grass and moss, lined with feathers, and contained five full-fledged young ones, who scrambled
out of it as soon as we began to examine them. This species is said to lay from seven to ten eggs;
but each of the nests seen by Mr. Hancock contained no more than five, and the one above mentioned
the same number.”

. A Crested Tit which I killed in one of the great pine forests of Norway, had the legs pale blue-grey, the
bill black, and the eye brown. The birds were moving about in small companies, uttering a sharp and
piercing cry. I observe no outward difference in the sexes. Both have the upright top-knot, a feature
which axtils much to their elegance. As regards colour, they have but little to recommend them. Their
ee insects, like that of the other members of the genus, to which they assimilate in pertness, and
Ce and activity. The young from the nest resemble the adults, and in this respect they approach the
Pecile. Specimens from Norway are generally paler in colour, and had fuller crests than the specimens
sent me from Scotland.

In Mr. Hewitson’s valuable ‘ Coloured Illustrations of the Kegs of British Birds,’ we read that his figure
of the egg of las species ae taken from a specimen sent to him by Mr. John Hancock, of Newcastle (who
a a a ie nests in Hine woods of Morayshire), accompanied by the following note :—‘* About the
a a ne ee ee ee ea oa sixth of May, when the nests Her taken, the
all placed in similar situations, in holes of old st ee ieee ee Lae a
pie ee oaosed ct ee Pa ‘ eee naa 0 a om ve to six oa above the ground.
wee ares’ down, alittle moss, and a few feathers. At first sight they appeared
ee, Be a: y of down, but on closer examination they were found to be constructed of the above-

The Plate represents the sexes, of i
late represents the two sexes, of the natural size, on a branch of a silver fir.