File:Birds and their nests and eggs - found in and near great towns (1907) (14775368403).jpg

Identifier: birdstheirnestse00vosg (find matches)
Title: Birds and their nests and eggs : found in and near great towns
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Vos, George Herklots
Subjects: Birds Birds Birds
Publisher: London : G. Routledge New York : E.P. Dutton.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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another one—that of the long-tailed tit. The parent birds,as usual, by their evident distress guided usstraight to the spot : right in the midst of athick leafy may bush the elegant structure wasconcealed. We noted the exact place whereit was built, and some time afterwards, whenthe young were flown, we came back to it, andcarefully cutting all the branches down, tookthe photograph. It was constructed chieflyof lichens taken from the trunks of trees. Itsoutside appearance was much like the wrens(see Plate XXXVII),but it was a narrower oval,being only some five inches across. Severaltwigs traversed the nest in all directions, andshowed the care, skill, and patience of thelittle birds. The nests of long-tailed titshave either one or two holes of entrance.This one had two. The bird goes in by oneto sit upon the eggs or young, its long tailprotruding out behind, and when quitting thenest naturally, or when alarmed, it leaves bythe other hole. This is of course a most 88 ON THE MOORLANDS
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XL : The long-tailed tit (f-size). Equilibrist is A TERM well APPLICABLE TO THE BIRD. convenient arrangement made to suit thefour-inch long tail. The bird would obviously IN THE MONTH OF JUNE 89 have some trouble in turning if there wereonly one hole, and it seems strange thattwo are not always made. The structure isa fine example of a domed nest, and takesfirst place amongst the homes of British birdsfor elegance and for marvel of constructiontoo. The long-tailed tit is easily distinguishedfrom the five other British tits by the lengthof its tail, which also has a white feather oneach side all the way down. The other tits arethe blue, the great, the marsh, the crested, andthe cole tit. The long-tailed tit may oftenbe seen in winter as well as in summer in ourgardens. Like the blue tit (tomtit), its habitsare very active, assuming all sorts of positionsin its ceaseless search for food. Equili-brist is a term well applicable to this bird,for it uses its tail to balance itself, like ati

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