Breeding.—They lay ten or twelve rusty white eggs, spotted with reddish yellow, in a hole of a tree, on a bed of moss, hair, and feathers.
Mode of Taking.—In winter they will easily enter a trap baited with nut kernels or oats. A surer method is, to lay limed twigs on a sunflower plant, the seeds of which are ripe. If these tits do not enter the garden, a plant must be carried to a place much frequented by them. When once these birds have tasted these seeds, they appear quite contented in the house. It is only necessary to supply them freely; they will seize them eagerly directly after being taken.
Attractive Qualities.—Their pretty actions please, and their song is sweet. They relieve it occasionally by a lively strain, “diar, diar, hitzi, ailtz, ailtz!” which is their call in the pairing season.
I was never able to keep one in the house beyond two or three years.
THE CRESTED TIT.
Parus cristatus, Linnæus; La Mésange huppée, Buffon; Die Haubenmeise, Bechstein.
This bird is four inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures one and one third. The beak is four lines, and black; the shanks are seven lines high, and lead blue; the head is adorned with a crest, composed of feathers nearly an inch long, black tipped with white, which the bird can erect at pleasure in a conical form.
Habitation.—When wild these birds frequent all the pine and fir woods in Thuringia, but are not so numerous as the other species[114]. They fly about low bushes, and therefore delight in places where juniper bushes abound.