Crested Titmouse — Parus Cristatus
Feathers of the crown elongated, and forming when erected a pointed crest, black, edged with white; cheeks and sides of the neck white; throat, collar, and a streak across the temples black; all the other parts reddish brown; lower parts white, faintly tinged with red. Length, four inches and three-quarters.
The crested tit is one of the rarest and most local of British birds, being restricted to a few extensive pine-forests in the north of Scotland; indeed, there are few who know it from personal observation in this country. Although modest in colour, it is a pretty little bird, and its high, pointed crest gives it a somewhat distinguished appearance. In its language and habits it resembles the other members of the genus, and associates in the same way with birds of different species. Like the coal-tit, it makes its nest in a hole in a rotten tree-stump, and it will also breed in a crow’s or magpie’s old nest, or a squirrel’s drey. The nest is made of dry grass, moss, wool, hair, fur, and feathers, thinly felted together; and five or six eggs are laid, white in ground-colour, spotted and speckled with brownish red.