PARUS, Lill. &c. TITMOUSE.
Bill short, straight, strong, conical, compressed, ter minating in a sharp point without a notch ; the base fur nished with small hairs; nostrils basal, rounded, and con cealed by projecting feathers; legs stout, toes divided to their origin, the hind one the strongest and most bent ; the fourth and fifth quills the longest.
These are very small, but very lively and active birds, being constantly in motion, and possessing a great degree of and courage for their size ; many of them venturing to attack birds three times larger than them selves, and pursuing even the owl, and aiming at its eyes. They likewise attack sickly birds, which they more easily dispatch; and when they have effected their conquest, they pierce a hole in the skull, and eat the brains. They are also partial to flesh and fat, which they eat with great avidity. Their principal food, however, consists of in sects, which they obtain in the spring by biting off the open buds, and in the summer by searching in cracks and crevices of trees. They likewise feed on the seeds of plants and grain, which they sometimes hoard in maga zines. Their voice is generally unpleasant. Their nests are constructed with peculiar elegance and ingenuity. are prolific even to a proverb ; and they occur in *all the regions of the old world, and many of them through out the American continent, the West India Islands, New Zealand, Sz.c. In confinement, their manners are amus ing; but on account of their sanguinary dispositions it is not safe to introduce them into an aviary.
P. major, Lin. Ste. Great Titmouse, or Ox-eye, Prov: Black cap, or Great Black-headed Tom-tit. Olive-green above, yellowish beneath ; head black, temples white, top of the neck yellowish. The great tit-mouse weighs about ten drachms, and measures five inches and three quarters in length, and eight inches four lines in expanse of wing. It is widely diffused over Europe, Asia, and Africa ; and in some of the colder climates it appears to be a bird of passage. In many parts of this country, especially in hilly situations, it is not uncommon, fre quenting woods, copses, gardens, and orchards, where it searches, with unceasing activity, for caterpillars or in sects. It is likewise a notorious bee-eater, and has been known to depopulate hives. It feeds also on the seeds of
panic-grass, beechmast, hazel nuts, and almonds, grasp ing these last in its little claws, breaking their shell by repeated strokes of its sharp hill, and dexterously picking out the substance. The nest is made of moss, feathers, or other downy and delicate matters, lined with hair. and placed in the hollow of a tree, or in a wall. Colonel Montagu mentions, that he once found it in the barrel of a garden pump ; and he has found the eggs in the hole of a decayed tree, on the rotten wood, without the least ap pearance of a nest. The male assists both in the con struction of the nest and in the cares of incubation. There are usually two broods in the year. The female lays from six to ten or twelve eggs, which are yellowish-white, spotted with rust-colour, especially at the larger end, and scarcely to be distinguished from those of the nuthatch. The young continue blind for some days, after which their growth is very rapid, so that they arc able to fly in about a fortnight. After quitting the nest, they perch on the neighbouring trees, incessantly call on one another, and continue together till the approaching spring invites them to pair. Before the first moulting, the male may be distinguished by his superior size, and more ardent tem perament. In the space of six months, the new race are fully grown, and four months after moulting they are fit for breeding. A couple, when once paired, continue faith ful, it is alleged, for life. The common cry of the species is a sort of grating chatter, and has been compared to the filing of iron, or the whetting of a saw ; but, in February, when they pair, they utter more joyful notes, which cease with incubation. The approach of these birds to houses and villages is supposed to denote a rigorous degree of cold. In deep snows, they may be observed, with their back downwards, drawing straws, lengthwise, from the eaves of thatched houses, in order to pull out the flies concealed between them, and this so often repeated, as to deface the thatch, and give it a ragged appearance. Though seldom domesticated, because their song is not generally admired, yet they are easily tamed, and grow so familiar as to eat out of the hand; they are also expert in performing the little feat of drawing up the bucket.