The TRUE PENDULINE TITMOUSE (_Ægithalus pendulinus_) is greyish red
on the upper part of its body, on the under side whitish, shaded with
rust-red on the breast; a black stripe, beginning at the cheeks, passes
across the eyes to the region of the ear; the quills and tail-feathers
are blackish, with light borders; the eye is brown, the beak of various
shades of black, whitish at its margins; the feet are black or greyish
black. The female is more dusky, and has less black upon the brow and
sides of the head than her mate. In the young the black cheek-stripes
are not indicated. The upper portion of the body is reddish grey. This
species is from four inches to four and a half long, and from six to six
and a half broad; the wing measures two inches and a quarter, and the
tail one inch and three-quarters.
These elegant little birds inhabit all the eastern parts of Europe and
a large portion of Asia, and their active, sprightly demeanour entitles
them to a place among the most interesting members of the family to
which they belong. From morning to night they are almost incessantly
in motion, climbing nimbly among the reeds, or bopping from twig to
twig, in search of the insects and larvæ upon which they subsist. They
generally, however, keep well sheltered beneath the foliage, where their
presence is constantly betrayed by the frequent utterance of their clear,
chirping note. Whether this species migrates is as yet undecided; it is,
nevertheless, certain that it disappears from its native haunts about
September or October, and does not return until March.
"Proverbial as the nests of the Tits are for beauty of structure,"
says Mr. Gould, "none are more remarkable and curious than that of the
present species; it is constructed of the soft down of the poplar or
willow, and this substance, which closely resembles cotton wool, is woven
together with admirable ingenuity, so as to form a flask-shaped nest
with a lateral opening into the internal chamber. It is suspended at the
extremity of a drooping branch of a willow, or any similar tree hanging
over the water."
We are indebted to Baldamus not only for a very complete description of
the remarkable nest made by these birds, but also for a detailed account
of the mode of building it. "I have had an opportunity," writes that
naturalist, "of watching during seven weeks the daily operations of a
pair of these ingenious little builders, and have carefully examined
upwards of thirty nests." He observed, moreover, the whole process
of their construction, and procured several in different stages of
completion. The situation chosen was generally in the vicinity of a
swamp, and the nests were almost invariably suspended to the innermost
twigs of the branches of a willow tree, usually at an elevation of twelve
or fourteen feet from the ground, although some were at a height of from
twenty to thirty feet, and one example was obtained from the very summit
of a high tree.
In building these admirable structures the two sexes seem to emulate each
other in industry and perseverance, for without this, it is difficult to
conceive how such an edifice can be completed in the short space of about
fourteen days.
"The mode of proceeding in the construction of one of these nests,"
continues the same writer, "is as follows:--First of all the bird begins
by winding a quantity of wool, goats' hair, bast, or hempen thread,
around the selected twig, at a part where it becomes forked, and between
the forks are laid the foundations of the walls of the nest, which thus
becomes securely fixed; from this basis a sort of felt-work is prolonged
into the shape of a shallow basket, in which condition it was formerly
thought to be a supernumerary nest, constructed for the accommodation
of the male bird. As, however, the work proceeds, the walls are still
further produced by an accumulation of fitting materials, which now
consist of down collected from poplar and willow trees, interwoven with
threads of bast, wool, and hair, while the fibres of vegetable cotton
are glued and matted together by the aid of saliva supplied by the birds
themselves. The structure now presents the appearance of a basket with
thick rounded walls, and the next part of the process is to construct the
side entrance, which terminates in a small round hole, while the other
side also has a passage from below; the one with the round opening is now
provided with a tube of from one to three inches long, while the other
remains open, and only felted and smoothed down at the edges; lastly,
the bottom of the inside of the nest is thickly carpeted with loose
unrolled vegetable wool, and the structure is at length completed. The
nest now appears a round ball or bag, from six to eight inches in depth,
and from four to five in width, with a round entrance like the neck of a
bottle, which at first bending down soon stands out horizontally towards
the entrance, which is circular, and provided with a slightly thickened
margin."
"It is impossible to confound such a nest with that of any other bird,
and, therefore, we are quite assured that the Bottle Tit has repeatedly
made its nest in Germany, where deserted nests are frequently found in
winter by men employed in clearing away the reeds in various localities."
The eggs, according to Baldamus, are usually seven in number, and have
a smooth, delicate, pure white shell, which, owing to its transparency,
appears pale red until it is emptied of its contents. We are told, on
good authority, that both parents assist in the process of incubation.
The young are reared principally upon small caterpillars, flies, and
beetles.
* * * * *
The REED TITMICE (_Panurus_) are distinguishable by their slender body,
long and much graduated tail, moderate-sized wings, in which the fourth
and fifth quills exceed the rest in length, and their short, much-curved
beak. The plumage is comparatively smooth and compact, but varies
according to the age or sex of the bird.