Bristles usually occur at the gape, while the nostrils are concealed by the same or feathers. The metatarsi are short and powerful, the scutes being fused in Hypositta; the hind toe is unusually developed; the claws are long, curved, and sharp. The colours in Sitta, which ranges over nearly all the Palaearctic and Indian Regions, and throughout North America to Mexico, are slaty-blue and rusty-red of various shades, relieved by black and white; the slaty tints shewing chiefly above, often in combination with a black or brown cap. Dendrophila and Callisitta, of the Indian Region and Timor, are blue and black, with creamy or ochreous lower parts. Sitella, of Australia and New Guinea, exhibits brown, grey, black, rufous, and white, often having a white head, or a rusty or white wing-patch; Daphoenositta, of the latter country, adds to these hues pink at the base of the bill and on the graduated tail; Hypositta of Madagascar is greenish-blue, with browner head and under surface, and coral-red bill.
Nuthatches are quiet, non-migratory birds, which frequent forests or open country with old timber, where they may be seen darting quickly from tree to tree with undulating flight, or creeping jerkily in Tit-like fashion up and down the trunks or over rocks. They seldom seek their food upon the ground, but search every cranny, and dig in rotten wood for insects, their larvae, and so forth, or collect nuts, acorns, beech-mast, and seeds; while the nuts are cracked by fixing them in chinks and hammering them with the whole weight of the body, which swings backwards and forwards from the hip-joint. In winter they are exceedingly tame. The spring call is a noisy, querulous "whit-whit," recalling that of the Wryneck, but sibilant sounds and sweeter cries are not uncommon, few persons being aware that the British species (Sitta caesia) has at least four sets of notes, one of which is very Thrush-like. Sitella has a weak, piping voice. In England the nesting-cavity is usually chosen in a tree, but occasionally in a wall, haystack, or the like; this is commonly lined with scales from conifer trunks, and the entrance blocked up with a plaster of clay pierced by a round hole: abroad, however, holes in rocks are often utilized, and nests made of moss, bark, hair, and feathers. The Indian species do not always plaster up their holes, and the American apparently never do so. Sitella forms a curious funnel-shaped nest with a very thin rim, in forks or on branches, using as materials bark, moss, down, cobwebs, and lichens, the bark being applied externally like shingles. The three or four greenish or bluish-white eggs, with blackish, grey, or lilac markings, are very unlike those of Sitta, which are white, with fine pinkish-red and lilac spots or blotches, and number from five to eight.
Fam. XIX. Paridae.–The Tits usually have a moderate and slightly decurved bill, though it is elongated in Sphenostoma and Certhiparus, abbreviated with roundish outline in Acredula, Psaltria, and Psaltriparus, more pointed in Aegithalus and Auriparus; the maxilla having little trace of a notch, or the gape of bristles. The metatarsi are short, except in Acredula, where the legs are longer and the scales tend to fuse; the robust front toes are partially united, and possess strong claws. The wings are rounded and abbreviated, especially in Aegithalus; the tail varies considerably, being short and nearly square in Parus, long and graduated in Acredula and Psaltriparus, intermediate in Psaltria and Sphenostoma, and emarginate in Aegithalus. The nostrils, generally hidden by bristly feathers, are exposed in Xerophila and Sphenostoma. Crests occur in the last-named and at times in Parus.
The colour of the soft, lax plumage is commonly dull; but Parus may be glossy greenish-black and yellow, as in the Sultan-bird (P. sultaneus); black with white on the wings, tail, or lower parts, as in P. niger and a few other African species; blue and white, with a little black and grey or a yellow fore-neck, as in P. cyanus and P. flavipectus; blue, black, greenish, yellow, and white, as in the British Great and Blue Tits (P. major and P. caeruleus); olive, brown, or grey, varied with black, white, chestnut, or buff, as in our Crested Tit (P. cristatus); or lastly, the tints while including but little yellow or blue, as in our Coal and Marsh Tits (P. britannicus and P. palustris), may be greyish or olive on the back, with a black head, white cheeks, and buffish-white under parts, the former species having a white nuchal patch. Psaltria is brown, grey, white, and buff; Psaltriparus is similar; Xerophila and Sphenostoma are brown, with yellowish-white, buff, or brown and white lower surface; Certhiparus is red-brown, with a grey nape and dull white breast. Acredula, containing the Long-tailed Tits, is black and white with a more or less pronounced rosy wash, or may be rufous, or brown and grey, with pinkish or fawn under parts, two species having chestnut heads. Aegithalus and Auriparus are rufous-brown, yellow-green, or greyish above, with black and white, orange-red, or yellow heads; and are commonly rufous and white, yellow, or whitish below, occasionally with bay marks. The sexes are very similar, the young often yellower.
Fig. 121.–Great Titmouse. Parus major. × ⅝.
Titmice are ordinarily non-migratory, Parus occupying most of the globe, except South America and the Australian Region east of Lombok and Flores; Psaltria is confined to Java, Acredula to the Palaearctic and Indian countries, Aegithalus to the same with the Ethiopian Region, Psaltriparus and Auriparus to North America, Xerophila and Sphenostoma to Australia, Certhiparus to New Zealand.
These familiar birds, active and often noisy, are found in flat or hilly, open or wooded districts, up to an altitude of ten thousand feet or more. They are decidedly arboreal, seldom frequenting the ground, and usually combining into flocks, except when breeding. The food consists mainly of insects, their eggs, larvae, and pupae, but at times of conifer-seeds, acorns, beech-mast, nuts, and the like; while in winter a suspended meat-bone, fat, or crumbs, prove great attractions. No doubt a certain amount of fruit is eaten in summer, and buds are plucked in spring; but the latter commonly contain injurious grubs. The Great Tit will kill smaller birds. The flight is weak and undulating, but on the trees the birds hop, climb, cling head downwards, and pry into the crannies in most workman-like style. Xerophila is, however, more terrestrial. The sharp reiterated notes are varied by sibilant sounds, those of the Blue Tit being fairly representative; yet some are harsher; others, as in the Long-tailed Tits, softer; while certain Crested Tits are credited with a song. The nest is normally a mass of moss–and sometimes grass–with a felted lining of wool, hair, or fur, containing from five or six to twelve or more white eggs, which are in most cases spotted or freckled with various shades of red, but rarely with purplish or chocolate-colour. Sometimes more than one is laid in a day. The fabric is placed in holes in trees, stumps, rocks, walls, or the ground; pumps, post-boxes, and so forth are frequently selected: nooks behind loose bark, deserted habitations of other birds, or the foundations of those of Hawks and Crows are sometimes chosen; while Sphenostoma, and occasionally Xerophila, build open nests in shrubs. Acredula, Aegithalus, and Psaltriparus make a purse-shaped structure with an entrance near the top; the first-named, thence called Bottle-Tit, placing it in hedges, bushes, undergrowth, forks of trees, or even ivy, and using as materials, moss, wool, lichens, and cobwebs, with a thick feather-lining; the two latter generally suspend it to branches and fashion it of grass, fibres, and leaves, often adding twigs externally or down internally. Aegithalus occasionally makes a tubular passage. Auriparus deposits in a similar or bulkier nest pale bluish or greenish eggs with red-brown specks, while those of Sphenostoma are blue with blackish markings. Acredula apparently incubates with its tail over its back. The hen's bravery when sitting, her hissing challenge, and her speedy return when driven off, are characteristic of Tits.
Fam. XX. Panuridae.–Family rank is now pretty generally accorded to Panurus biarmicus, the "Bearded Tit" or "Reed-Pheasant," though its affinities are still doubtful. Dr. Gadow,[[289]] judging from the internal structure, inclines to the view that it is akin to the Finches, but others place it next to the Tits. The bill is short, curved, rather conical, and without a notch; the metatarsus is long and scutellated anteriorly; the wings are short and rounded, the tail is extremely long and graduated. The plumage is orange-brown above, with a grey crown and a black streak from the lores down the cheeks, where the feathers are elongated and point backwards; the wings are varied with black and white; the throat is greyish, the breast pinkish; the abdomen coloured like the back; the under tail-coverts are black, the bill is yellow. The hen has a buff head, while she lacks the black "moustache" and under tail-coverts.
