PARUS, the titmouse, in natural histo ry, a genus of birds of the order Passeres. Generic character : bill strait, somewhat compressed, strong, hard, and pointed ; nostrils round, and covered with bristles turned back over them from the base of the bill ; tongue truncated, and bristly at the end ; toes divided to their origin, the back one very large and strong. These birds are found in almost every part of the old Continent, from the north of Eu rope to the south of India, and are high ly prolific, laying eighteen or twenty eggs, which they hatch with unwearied patience. They build their nest with particular neatness and skill, and fre quently on the extremity of some branch suspended over water, by which they se cure it from the attack of various ani mals to which it might otherwise fall a prey. They are wonderfully active and alert, rapid and assiduous in their search for insects, on which they principally i subsist, under the bark and in the vices of trees, which they clear of the immense multitudes of caterpillars co vering them in spring, and which would totally blast their vegetation. They are in no country migratory, though they oc casionally change their residence for short distances. They are impassioned and irascible to a great degree, and when ir ritated will display that ardent eye and muffled plumage which indicate the pa roxysm of agitation. Their courage is of the first order, as they are known some times to attack birds three times their size. Even the owl is by no means secure from their rage, and whatever bird they pursue, their first attempts are levelled at the head, and particularly at the eyes and brains, the latter of which they eat with particular avidity and relish. Gmelin enu
merates thirty-one species, and Latham twenty-seven.
P. major, or the greater titmouse of Europe, weighs about an ounce. The male and female associate for some time before they begin to build, which they do with the most downy materials, and ge nerally in the hole of some tree. The young continue blind for several days, and after they have left the nest never return to it, but continue, how ever, in the same neighbourhood, with the appearance of great family attach ment, till the ensuing spring. See Ayes, Plate X. fig. 7.
P. cterulens, or the blue titmouse of Europe, is eminently beautiful, and high ly serviceable in destroying caterpillars in orchards and gardens. It picks the bones of small birds to the most complete cleanness, and is distinguished by the bit terness of its aversion to the owl. See Ayes, Plate X. fig. 8.
P. caudatus, or the long-tailed titmouse of Europe, lives in the same manner as the former, and has the same geneyal, ha.
bits with the rest of the genus, but builds its nest with peculiar care and elegance, securing, in the completest manner, the two important circumstances of dryness and warmth ; the silken threads of aure fias constitute a principal article for those purposes. It is active even to restlessness, perpetually flying backwards and for wards, and running up and down the branches of trees in every possible direc tion. It possesses all the fullness of plu mage of the owl.