48.  BLUE TIT. Parus caeruleus, Linnaeus.  French, “Mesange bleue.”—­Like the Great Tit, the Blue Tit is resident in all the Islands, but by no means numerous.  In Guernsey it is pretty generally distributed over the more cultivated parts, but nowhere so numerous as in England.  It is included in Professor Ansted’s list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.

I have not included either the Cole Tit or the Marsh Tit in this list, as I have never seen either bird in the Islands, and have not been able to find that they are at all known either in Guernsey or any of the other Islands.

Professor Ansted, however, includes the Cole Tit in his list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey, but no other information whatever is given about it; and there is no specimen in the Museum, as there is of both the Great and the Blue Tits.  I have not succeeded in getting a specimen myself.

49.  LONG-TAILED TIT. Acredula caudata, Linnaeus.  French, “Masange a longue queue."[10]—­The Long-tailed Tit is certainly far from common in Guernsey at present, and I have never seen it in the Islands myself.  But Mr. MacCulloch writes me word—­“The Long-tailed Tit is, or at least was, far from uncommon.  Probably the destruction of orchards may have rendered it less common.  The nest was generally placed in the forked branch of an apple-tree, and so covered with grey lichens as to be almost indistinguishable.  I remember, in my youth, finding a nest in a juniper-bush.”

It is included in Professor Ansted’s list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.  There is, however, no specimen now in the Museum.

I am very doubtful as to whether I ought to include the Bearded Tit, Panurus biarmicus of Linnaeus, in this list.  There are a pair in the Museum, but these may have been obtained in France or England.  One of Mr. De Putron’s men, however, described a bird he had shot in the reeds in Mr. De Putron’s pond in the Vale, and certainly his description sounded very much as if it had been a Bearded Tit; but the bird had been thrown away directly after it was shot, and there was no chance of verifying the description.

50.  WAXWING. Ampelis garrulus, Linnaeus.  French, “Jaseur de Boheme,” “Grand Jaseur.”—­As would seem probable from its occasional appearance in nearly every county in England, the Waxwing does occasionally make its appearance in Guernsey as a straggler.  I have never seen it myself, but Mr. MacCulloch writes me word—­“I have known the Bohemian Waxwing killed here on several occasions, but have not the date.”

An interesting account of the nesting habits of this bird, and the discovery of the nests and eggs by Mr. Wolley, was published by Professor Newton in the ‘Ibis’ for 1861, and will be found also in Dresser’s ‘Birds of Europe.’ and in the new edition of ‘Yarrell,’ by Professor Newton.

It is included in Professor Ansted’s list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey; and there is one specimen in the Museum.