Lot Essay
'Wonderful, indeed, is the architectural skill displayed by the Long-tailed Tit in the construction of its closely, felted nest..'
The illustration shows an oval nest found on the 2nd May, 1861 in the garden at Formosa, near Cliveden, by the Thames. Gould's son Franklin counted the feathers in the lining, and found some 2000 belonging to the peacock, turkey, partridge, domestic hen, greenfinch, woodpigeon and other birds. The wall of the nest was made of moss and cow-hair, and the exterior composed of minute pieces of lichen fastened to the moss by spiders' silky cobwebs. It contained ten eggs and weighed 142 grains (1/4 oz or 6½grms).
DISTRIBUTION: Breeds from Eurasia through to Mongolia and Manchuria, west China, Korea and Japan between 70°N and 27°N. In winter northern population irregularly migrates into southern parts of breeding range
The illustration shows an oval nest found on the 2nd May, 1861 in the garden at Formosa, near Cliveden, by the Thames. Gould's son Franklin counted the feathers in the lining, and found some 2000 belonging to the peacock, turkey, partridge, domestic hen, greenfinch, woodpigeon and other birds. The wall of the nest was made of moss and cow-hair, and the exterior composed of minute pieces of lichen fastened to the moss by spiders' silky cobwebs. It contained ten eggs and weighed 142 grains (1/4 oz or 6½grms).
DISTRIBUTION: Breeds from Eurasia through to Mongolia and Manchuria, west China, Korea and Japan between 70°N and 27°N. In winter northern population irregularly migrates into southern parts of breeding range