CHARLES KNIGHT AND Co., 22, LUDGATE STREET.

MDCCCXLIII.

Price Seven Shillings and Sixpence, bound in cloth,

LOCAL COMMITTEES.

Hitcham, Suffolk-Rev. Professor Henslow, Ripon Rev. H. P. Hamilton, M.A., F.R.S., G.S.

THOMAS COATES, Esq., Secretary, No. 42, Bedford Square.

London: Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and Soys, Stamford Street.

THE PENNY CYCLOPÆDIA

OF

THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF

USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.

|

ambition; and it may be questioned whether, as far as
there has been any feeling in operation besides that of a
sense of duty, the great exertions which are made in the
service of the country are not stimulated less by the ex-
pectation of pecuniary reward, than by the hope of receiv-
ing one of these titles of honour which shall descend to a
man's posterity. They cost nothing; and hence it is that
titles of honour have been called the cheap defence of
nations.'
Whoever wishes to study this subject in all its details
will do well to resort to two great works: one, the late
Reports of the Lords' Committees on the dignity of the
Peerage; the other, the large treatise on Titles of
Honour, by the learned Selden. The latter was first
printed in 4to., 1614; again,with large additions, folio, 1631.
TITMICE, Paride, a natural family of Perching
Birds. [INSESSORES.]

Linnæus, in his last edition of the Systema Naturæ, placed the genus Parus between Pipra and Hirundo, in his order

Passeres.

Latham arranges it also at the end of the same order. Pennant too gives it a place in the Passerine section, between the Warblers and the Swallows.

M. de Lacepède places it immediately before the Larks; M. Duméril in the eighth family of the Passeres (Subulirostres, or Raphioramphes), in company with the Manakins, Larks, and Bec-fins; M. Meyer, in the third suborder (Subulate) of his fifth order (Oscines), between Alauda and Regulus; Illiger, at the head of the Passerini, among the Ambulatores, immediately before Alauda; Cuvier, among the Conirostres, directly after the Larks; Vieillot, in the family of Egithales in the tribe Anisodactyli; Temminck, in the order Granivores, between the Larks and Buntings; and Latreille in the family Conirostres, also between the Larks and the Buntings. Selby arranges it between the same two forms.

Mr. Vigors places the genus Parus among the Pipride, in his order DENTIROSTRES. In his paper On the Natural Affinities that connect the Orders and Families of Birds,* | he remarks that the true Wrens of the Sylviada, a family which in his arrangement immediately precedes the PIPRIDE, display in their general appearance and habits so close a similarity to Parus, Linn., the Titmouse of our naturalists, that we may at once acknowledge the affinity between the latter family and that of Pipride, upon which he enters by means of the Pari. And who is there,' he asks, that has not been attracted by the interesting manners of both these familiar visitors of our domestic haunts, and at the same time has not been struck with their resemblance? The Penduline Titmouse, Parus pendulinus, Linn., with its bill longer and more slender than that of the Pari in general, seems to him to be the connecting link between the families. That species, he observes, is immediately met by the genus Tyrannulus of M. Vieillot, which in the name of Roitelet Mesange (Titmouse-Wren), conferred by Buffon on the American species of which it is composed, happily illustrates the affinity which he has pointed out. It is pleasing, he remarks, to trace in groups which bear a general affinity to each other in their more essential characters, an affinity also in less consequential particulars, and he calls attention to the fact that this is the case in the conterminous groups of Wrens and Titmice with respect to their mode of nidification; for the greater portion of both make their nests in holes of trees, but those groups which most nearly approach each other, viz., Regulus, Tyrannulus, and Parus pendulinus, suspend theirs from the branches, leaving the orifice at the centre, and interlacing the materials of which it is composed with corresponding ingenuity and elegance. Mr. Vigors goes on to remind his readers that the affinity between these birds has been acknowledged by scientific as well as by common observers; and yet the former have generally ranked the Pari in a different tribe, and some indeed have even arranged them in a different order from the Sylviada, in consequence of their more conical bill and the absence of the mandibular notch. A rigid deference to those particulars which form the characteristics of the conterminous subdivisions would, he admits, certainly exclude the Pari from the tribe of Dentirostres; but the nature of their food, which consists chiefly of insects, and the similarity of their habits, give them, he thinks, a more natural connection with the families among which he has placed them, than

*Linn. Trans.,' vol. xiv,

| with the hard-billed and granivorous birds, where they are generally stationed. 'Here,' says Mr. Vigors in continuation, it may also be observed that they form part of one of the extreme families of the tribe, and are immediately connected with a group of the preceding family of the Sylviade, which passes on to the Conirostres, the succeeding subdivision of the order. They thus are brought into contact with the tribe to which the strength and the conical structure of their bill indicates a conformity; while at the same time they maintain their station among the groups where their manners and general economy would naturally place them. The Pari, which thus introduce us into the present family, lead us on to the more typical groups of the Linnean Pipre, with which they bear an acknowledged affinity in manners and general appearance. The genus Pardalotus, Vieill., which is the representative of the latter group in Australasia, appears to connect these two allied groups of the Old and the New World, by exhibiting the nearly divided foot of the one, and the partially curved bill of the other. Here come in the RUPICOLA, Briss., and PHIBALURA, Vieill. And here, as I have already observed, when speaking of the Thrushes [MERULIDE, Vol. xv., p. 121], I apprehend that all those groups will be found to assemble, which, connected with Ampelis, Linn., are generally denominated Berry-eaters and Chatterers ; such as Bombycilla, Briss., the true Ampelis of authors, Casmarhinchus, Temm., and Procnias, Ill. To these the genus Querula of M. Vieillot may, I think, be added. This group, the type of which is the Muscicapa rubricollis of Gmelin, is strongly allied by its bill to the foregoing genera, while its habits equally ally it to the family of MusCICAPIDE, which follows. The interval between the present groups and those of the Pari, where we entered on the family, appears to be filled up by a race of birds peculiar to New Holland, and hitherto uncharacterized, of which the Muscicapa pectoralis, Lath., is the type. These, uniting many external characters, at least, both of the Berry-eaters and Fly-catchers, exhibit also in general appearance a considerable resemblance to the Pari, and will be found, I conjecture, to be the connecting bond between all these groups. The affinity between this last family of the tribe and the Muscicapide, which first met our attention as we entered it, has already been observed when I spoke of the separation of the broad-billed Chatterers from the Thrushes. And thus equally, as in the former tribe, we may recognise the completion of a circular succession of affinities between all the families of the Dentirostres.' The uncharacterized group above alluded to was afterwards formed into the genus Pachycephala, Sw.

Mr. Swainson (Classification of Birds) enters among the Titmice by the American genus Seiurus, remarkable for the motion of its tail. One species, Seiurus aquaticus, Sw., frequents the sides of streams and runs upon the ground, whilst another, S. aurocapillus, Sw., is, he observes, confined to damp woods and runs along the low branches of trees. Here Mr. Swainson sees a change of economy, which, he says, plainly shows that nature has assumed a new form; and as the habit of running along branches of trees is the chief faculty of the Scansorial birds, or of their representatives, so, he remarks, we may suppose that the group next in succession to the Motacillince would possess something of the same characters. These he finds manifested in the genus Accentor, and he adverts to an unpublished notice which he heard read at a meeting of the Linnean Society of London, relating to the habits of an Accentor which was killed near one of the public buildings at Oxford, and which was seen to climb so adroitly round the steep abutments of those buildings as to baffle for a considerable time the aim of the person who shot it. He also states that he has seen the common Hedge-sparrow frequently hop along the whole length of a strong oblique branch, pecking into the crevices of the bark so as to remind the observer of a scansorial creeper, or of a Woodpecker: and he makes the Titmice a subfamily of the SYLVIADE, with the genera and subgenera which will be found in that article. [Vol. xxiii., p. 441.]

He remarks that this subfamily may be said to commence with the genus Accentor, which stands at the confines of that group which contains the most scansorial warblers in the family of the Sylviade. The short, stout, and nearly conic bills of these active little climbers,' says Mr. Swainson, are admirably adapted for pecking into the bark of buds, and thus extracting the small insects

Megistina, Vieill.; Tyrannulus, Vieill.; Sphenostoma, Gould; Calamophilus, Leach; Orites, Mæhr (Mecistura, Leach; Paroides, Brehm-Long-tailed Titmouse); Parisoma, Sw.; Psaltria, Temm.; Ægithina, Vieill.; Hylophilus, Temm.

In this article we shall confine ourselves to those cognate

EUROPEAN TITMICE.

that there lie concealed.' Of the five types of form, or
subgenera, proper to the genus Parus, that which Mr.
Swainson formerly named Parisoma is, he thinks, the con-
necting link to Accentor. It is, he observes, one of those
small birds of South Africa figured by Le Vaillant, but of
which the greater part are known only by his plates: the
four others are composed of the ordinary or typical Tit-forms which are vernacularly known as Titmice.
mice (Parus), the Hangnest Titmice (Egithalus, Vig.),
the Brazilian Titmice (Hylophilus, Temm.), and Egithnia,
Vieill. Parus and Agithalus, he remarks, are distin-
guished by their conic, sharp-pointed, and entire bills,
while the three aberrant types have that organ notched;
but he points out that in all five the feet, so constantly
employed in the great exertion of climbing, are particu-
larly strong and muscular; and that the hind-toe also,
upon which all climbing birds depend so much for as-
sistance, is large and powerful. The discovery of the
five subgenera of Parus,' says Mr. Swainson in continua-
tion, independent of the verification they afford by their
perfect analogy to the correctness of the corresponding
types of the genus Sylvicola, subsequently detailed, is of
much importance, since this discovery enables us to prove,
beyond all reasonable doubt, that neither the long-tailed
nor the bearded tits (Parus caudatus and biarmicus) are
types either of genera or subgenera. We have already
alluded to the station in which, after the most minute
analysis, we have placed the Parus biarmicus, which is
only an aberrant species of the restricted subgenus Parus,
as the latter now stands: from this bird always living in
the vicinity of water, it becomes that species which repre-
sents the natatorial type; while in the greatly developed
tail of Parus caudatus it is easy to perceive another aber-
rant species typifying the Rasores. We have repeatedly
remarked that groups preeminently typical in their own
circle, almost invariably present us with these variations
in the form of their aberrant species. The restricted
genus Parus is precisely of this description: it is the pre-
eminent type of an entire subfamily; and hence, ike
Corvus, Lanius, Sylvia, and a great number of other genera
holding the same rank in their own circles, it contains a
greater variety of modifications in the form of its species
than genera which are not preeminently typical. The
whole of the subgenera of Parus are distinguished from
those of Sylvicola by characters the most simple and beau-
tiful. They all have that peculiar strength of foot so con-
spicuous in our native examples, and their wings are inva-
riably rounded; that is to say, the first quill is short, and
the second and third so graduated that the fourth becomes
the longest. The bill also is short and thick, generally
more or less conic, and sometimes (as in the types) very
strong: the upper mandible may be said to be entire, for
in the only genus (Parisoma) which has the culmen arched,
the notch is so small that it may be termed obsolete.' Mr.
Swainson then remarks that we are thus enabled to dis-
tinguish the whole from the neighbouring group, Sylvicola,
which he then enters upon.

The following species are found in Europe :-
The Great Tit, Parus major; the Sombre Tit, Parus
lugubris; the Siberian Tit, Parus Sibericus; the Toupet
Tit, Parus bicolor; the Azure Tit, Parus cyaneus; the
Blue Tit, Parus cæruleus; the Coal Tit, Parus ater; the
Marsh Tit, Parus palustris; the Crested Tit, Parus cris-
tatus; the Long-tailed Tit, Parus caudatus of authors
(genus Orites); the Bearded Tit, Parus biarmicus (genus
Calamophilus); the Penduline Tit, Parus pendulinus of
authors (genus Egithalus).

Of these, the Great Tit, the Blue Tit, the Crested Tit, the Coal Tit, the Marsh Tit, the Long-tailed Tit, and the Bearded Tit are British.

There is little doubt that the Tits are the Aiyi aloi (Egithali) of Aristotle. The Great Tit, the Long-tailed Tit, and the Blue Tit are referred by Belon to the aiɣıðarós, the aiyalós repos, and the rpiros aiyidadós of that author, and, we think, with good reason.

Notwithstanding the discovery here claimed, and the assumed proof that neither the Long-tailed nor the Bearded Tits are types either of genera or subgenera, we shall presently find that ornithologists, in their publications subsequent to that of Mr. Swainson, are not convinced; but, on the contrary, still regard these two interesting forms as generic types.

Mr. Yarrell places the Paride, or True Tits, between the Warblers, Sylviade, and the Ampelide, the latter being represented by the Bohemian Waxwing. [BOMBYCILLA.] The Prince of Canino (Birds of Europe and North America, 1838) arranges the Parince as the seventh subfamily of the Turdide, placing it between the Motacillina (Wagtails) and the Sylvicoline. The following genera are included by the Prince under the Parinæ :

One

The Great Tit, the Blue Tit, the Coal Tit, and the Marsh Tit are too well known to require description; but a sketch of their habits may not be unacceptable. White, speaking of the English Tit, says: Every species of titmouse winters with us: they have what I call a kind of intermediate bill between the hard and the soft, between the Linnæan genera of Fringilla and Motacilla. species alone spends its whole time in the woods and fields, never retreating for succour in the severest seasons to houses and neighbourhoods;* and that is the delicate Long-tailed Titmouse, which is almost as minute as the Golden-crowned Wren; but the Blue Titmouse or Nun (Parus cæruleus), the Coal-Titmouse (Parus ater), the Great Black-headed Titmouse (Fringillago), and the Marsh Titmouse (Parus palustris), all resort at times to buildings, and in hard weather particularly. The Great Titmouse, driven by stress of weather, much frequents houses; and, in deep snows, I have seen this bird, while it hung with its back downwards (to my no small delight and admiration), draw straws lengthwise from out the eaves of thatched houses, in order to pull out the flies that were concealed between them, and that in such numbers that they quite defaced the thatch, and gave it a ragged appearance. The Blue Titmouse, or Nun, is a great frequenter of houses, and a general devourer. Besides insects, it is very fond of flesh; for it frequently picks bones on dunghills: it is a vast admirer of suet, and haunts butchers' shops. When a boy, I have known twenty in a morning caught with snap mouse-traps baited with tallow or suet. It will also pick holes in apples left on the ground, and be well entertained with the seeds on the head of a sun-flower. The Blue, Marsh, and Great Titmice will, in very severe weather, carry away barley and oat straws from the sides of ricks.' (Selborne.)

We can confirm, if confirmation were needed, the account of this admirable observer relative to the strawextracting labours of the Great Tit. The thatch of a roothouse in Gloucestershire was nearly destroyed by those fly-seekers but they have more to answer for than flycatching; they are small-bird murderers, and frequently kill their victims by repeated blows on the head with their strong, sharp, and hard beak, for the sake of feasting on the brains.

The Great Tit, without any compass to speak of, is a Regulus, Ray (Wren, including Gold-Crests); Parus, songster, not unadmired by some for its few but lively Linn.; Mecistura, Leach (Paroides, Brehm,-Long-tailed notes heralding the spring early in February. The quaTitmouse); Calamophilus, Leach (Mystacinus, Brehm-train in the Portraits d'Oyseaux is loud in its praise :Bearded Titmouse); Ægithalus, Vig. (Pendulinus, Cuv.—

Penduline Titmouse).

Au temps d'Antonne il y a des mesanges,
En grand foison, qui autent par les boys,
Et font des œufs douze ou quinze par fois.
Oyseaux petits et qui chantent comme anges.'

The habits of the Blue Tit are recorded by White with

Mr. G. R. Gray (List of the Genera of Birds, 1841) makes the Parince the fifth subfamily of his Luscinidae, and places it between the Accentoring and the Sylvicoline: the Parinæ, according to him, consist of the fol-equal truth: this is the bird that fights so stoutly pro lowing genera:

githalus, Vig.; Melanochlora, Less.; Parus, Linn.;

• Classification of Animals,' pp. 270, 271.

aris et focis, hissing like a snake or an angry kitten when her nest in the hollow of some decayed tree is invaded by

* But see post, description of that species.