The Cirl Bunting (E. cirlus), [Fig. 236], on the other hand, although found in Devon and Cornwall, and other parts of England, is only plentiful in the southern parts of Europe, and does not migrate into the colder regions.
Fig. 237.—The Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana, McGillivray).
The Ortolan Bunting (E. hortulana, Yarrell), [Fig. 237], so well known to gourmets and pot-hunters of Southern Europe, migrates periodically. Some have been found in various parts of England, but they were evidently stragglers, driven there by accidental circumstances. They abound on the northern shores of the Mediterranean, in Western Central Asia, in France, and as far north as Norway, where they are known to breed. Their favourite resorts, according to Meyer, are the borders of woods, hedges, and fields, near a water-course, clothed with low willows and bushes. They are very shy: still great numbers are captured in nets, when they are kept in confinement, and crammed for the table.
The Snow Bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis, Gould) rarely shows itself in France, and Montagu describes them as rare in England, but McGillivray found them in considerable flocks all over Scotland, from the Outer Hebrides to the Lothians. On the 4th of August, 1830, being on the summit of Ben-na-muic-dhu, one of the loftiest mountains in Scotland, he observed a beautiful male flitting about in the neighbourhood of a drift of snow, and some days after, in descending from Lochnagar on a botanising expedition, he noticed a flock of eight individuals flying about among the granite rocks of a corry, evidently a family. "It is, therefore," he thinks, "very probable that it breeds on the higher Grampians."
The Conirostral Passerines include the family of Paridæ, or Tits. The Titmice, as they are sometimes called, are small birds, seldom attaining the size of the Common Sparrow. Their general form is moderately full, the head large in proportion, and broadly ovate. Their bill is straight, short, and tapering, furnished with hairs at the base, but their individuality is distinguished by their specific peculiarities rather than by physiognomy. A characteristic feature is their audacity, almost approaching to impudence, and their courage, the instinctive result of their sociability. These qualities secure for them a well-defined place in the group under consideration.
Who discovers the Owl during the day? Who besieges him with its clamours? Who pursues him with unintermitting blows of his bill? Who rouses the whole tribe of small birds against the nocturnal tyrant? It is the Titmouse. Bellicose as bird can be, it gives full scope to its most warlike instincts whenever a suitable occasion presents itself, its want of physical power being compensated for by the vigour of its assault. The Tit is, indeed, the incarnation of motion; it is continually on the qui vive, skipping from branch to branch, at one moment piercing the crevices of the bark with its bill in search of food, the next hanging suspended from a branch, to which it clings with its claws, while it picks off the insects which occupy the lower surface of the leaves.
Nevertheless, it varies its food according to seasons and circumstances. Not only does it devour all kinds of insects, not excepting wasps and bees, but even cereals and fruits. It is even carnivorous, for it has been known to kill weak or sickly birds in order to devour them. Some species have a most unnatural partiality for grease, and devour it whenever opportunity offers. They are sociable birds, inhabiting thickets or woods, living in flocks the greater part of the year, and showing strong attachment to each other, so that a flock of them will suffer themselves to be decimated, and even altogether destroyed, rather than desert a wounded companion. In the spring they pair, and each isolated couple now seek out a suitable place in which they may rear their future progeny.
The position of the nest varies with the species. The Great Tit, or Oxeye (Parus major, Selborne), builds in the hole of some wall, or in a cavity formed in a decayed tree. It is usually composed of moss, hair, and feathers. The Blue Tit (P. cæruleus, Selborne) occasionally builds its nest in very insecure places. Mr. Duncan, one of Mr. McGillivray's correspondents, in a MS. note now before us, says, "In the year 1836 I discovered the nest of a pair of Blue Tits in the shaft of a pump well, which was drenched and partly carried away every time water was drawn; still they persevered in building. Gladly would I have left them there, but they kept the water in a continually muddy state, and their removal became absolutely necessary." The Coal Tit (P. ater, Selborne) chooses the crevice of a wall or decayed tree. So does the Marsh Tit (P. palustris, Selborne). The Crested Tit (P. cristatus, Selborne), [Fig. 238], is a retiring, solitary little bird, provided with plumage both brilliant and beautifully blended. They are rarely seen in England, but several flocks are recorded as appearing in Scotland. They are said to breed annually in plantations near Glasgow, in the forest of Glenmore, and near the Spey two were killed in 1836. In the North of Ireland, in autumn, they are not uncommon wherever plantations of larch trees are to be found. Their nest, according to Temminck, occurs in holes of trees, the oak being preferred, in rocks, or in a deserted Crow's or Squirrel's nest.
The nest of the Long-tailed Tit, or Mufflin (P. caudatus), is, perhaps, the most skilful specimen of construction. It is oval in form, and has two openings, one for entrance, the other for exit—an arrangement which the long tail of the bird renders necessary. This singular bird—the most diminutive of our birds except the Kinglets—differs from the Tits in its softer and more bulky plumage and tail. Its flight is undulating and rapid; its long tail and body muffled up to the chin in dense plumage giving the observer the idea of an arrow flying through the air.