CHARLES KNIGHT AND Co., 22, LUDGATE STREET. MDCCCXLIII. Price Seven Shillings and Sixpence, bound in cloth, Vice-Chairman-EARL SPENCER. B. Gompertz, Esq., F.R. and R.A.S. G. B. Greenough, Esq., F.R. and L.S. Rowland Hill, Esq., F.R.A.S. Right Hon. Sir J. C. Hobhouse, Bart., M.P. Thos. Hodgkin, M.D. David Jardine, Esq., A.M. Henry B. Ker, Esq. Professor Key, A.M. Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart. John Shaw Lefevre, Esq., A.M. Right Hon. H. Lushington, D.C.L. A, T. Malkin, Esq., A.M. Mr. Sergeant Manning. R. I. Murchison, Esq., F.R.S, Pres. G.S. P. M. Roget, M.D., Sec. R.S., F.R.A.S. Sir Martin Archer Shee, P.R.A., F.R.S. Professor Thomson, M.D., F.L.S. Jacob Waley, Esq., M.A. Jas. Walker, Esq., F.R.S., Pr. Inst. Civ. Eng. H. Waymouth, Esq. Thos. Webster, Esq., A.M. Right Hon. Lord Wrottesley, A.M., F.R.A.S. J. A. Yates, Esq. Bridport-James Williams, Esq. Bristol - J. N. Sanders, Esq., F.G.S., Chairman. J. Reynolds, Esq., Treasurer. J. B. Estlin, Esq, F. L.S., Secretary. Calcutta-James Young, Esq. C. H. Cameron, Esq. Cambridge-Rev. Leonard Jenyns, M.A., F.L.S. Rev. John Lodge, M.A. Rev. Prof. Sedgwick. M.A., F.R.S. & G.S. Canterbury-John Brent, Esq, Alderman. William Masters, Esq. Carlisle-Thomas Barnes, M.D., F.R S.E. William Roberts, Esq. Chester-Henry Potts, Esq. Chichester-C. C. Dendy, Esq. Cockermouth-Rev. J. Whitridge. Curfu-John Crawford, Esq. Plato Petrides, Esq. Coventry-C. Bray, Esq. Denbigh-Thomas Evans, Esq. Edward Strutt, Esq., M.P. Devonport and Stonehouse-John Cole, Esq. Lt. Col. C. Hamilton Smith, F.R.S. LOCAL COMMITTEES. Hitcham, Suffolk-Rev. Professor Henslow, Ripon Rev. H. P. Hamilton, M.A., F.R.S., G.S. M.A., F.L.S. & G.S. Hull-James Bowden, Esq. Leeds-J. Marshall, Esq. Lewes J. W. Woollgar, Esq. Henry Browne, Esq. Liverpool Loc. As.-J. Mulleneux, Esq. Manchester Loc. As.-G. W. Wood, Esq., Sir Benjamin Heywood, Bt.. Treasurer. Sir George Philips, Bart., M.P. T. N. Winstanley, Esq., Hon. Sec. Merthyr Tydvil-Sir J. J. Guest, Bart., M.P. Minchinhampton-John G. Ball, Esq. Neath-John Rowland, Esq. Newcastle-Rev. W. Turner. T. Sopwith, Esq. Newport, Isle of Wight-Ab. Clarke, Esq. T. Cooke, Jun., Esq. R. G. Kirkpatrick, Esq. Newport Pagnell-J. Millar, Esq. Wm. Forster, Esq. Orsett, Essex-Dr. Corbett. Rev. P. Ewart, M.A. Ruthin-The Rev. the Warden. Humphreys Jones, Esq. Ryde, Isle of Wight-Sir R. D. Simeon, Pt. Sheffield-J. H. Abraham, Esq. Shepton Mallet-G. F. Burroughs, Esq. Henry Coppock, Esq., Secretary. John Rundle, Esq., M.P. Wrexham-Thomas Edgworth, Esq. John Phillips, Esq., F.R.S., F.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. TIT TITLES OF HONOUR are words or phrases which certain persons are entitled to claim as their right, in consequence of certain dignities being inherent in them. They vary in a manner corresponding to the variety of the dignities, or, in other words, with the rank of the possessor. Thus Emperor, King, Czar, Prince, are titles of honour, and the possessors of the high dignities represented by these words are, by the common consent of the civilized world, entitled to be so denominated, and to be addressed by such terms as Your Majesty and Your Royal Highness. These are the terms used in England, and the phrases in use in other countries of Europe do not much differ from them. In fact one European nation seems to have borrowed from another, or all to have taken their titles of honour for this exalted rank from a common original; so that little of the peculiar genius of the European nations can be traced in the terms by which they show their respect for the persons of highest dignity. But it is different when we come to compare them with the Oriental nations. In those seats of antient civilization the most extravagant terms of compliment are in use, and a little sovereign of a wandering tribe rejoices in titles of honour numerous and inflated in the highest degree. In the series of Roman emperors, the word Cæsar, originally the name of a family, became a title of honour; Augustus was another; and Pater Patriæ a third. The five orders of nobility in England are distinguished by the titles of honour, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron and the persons in whom the dignity of the peerage inheres are entitled to be designated by these words; and if in any legal proceedings they should be otherwise designated, there would be a misnomer by which the proceedings would be vitiated, just as when a private person is wrongly described in an indictment; that is, the law or the custom of the realm guarantees to them the possession of these terms of honour, as it does of the dignities to which they correspond. They are also entitled to be addressed by such phrases as My Lord, My Lord Marquis, My Lord Duke, and they have usually prefixed to their titles, properly so called, certain phrases, as High and Mighty Prince, Most Noble, Right Honourable, varying with the kind and degree of the dignity possessed by them. The other members of the families of peers have also their titles of honour. Thus the lady of a peer has rank and titles corresponding with those of the husband. All the sons and daughters of peers are Honourable, but the daughters of earls and peers of a higher dignity are entitled to the distinction of being called Lady, and the younger sons of dukes and marquises are by custom addressed as My Lord. The orders of nobility in other European countries differ little from our own. They have their Dukes, Marquises, Counts, Viscounts, and Barons. We cannot enter into the nice distinctions in the dignities of foreign nations, or in the titles of honour which correspond to them. Another dignity which brings with it the right to a title P. C., No. 1552. | TIT of honour is that of knighthood. This dignity is of very antient origin, and, in the form in which we now see it, may be traced far into the depths of the middle ages, if it be not, as some suppose, a continuation of the Equites of Rome. Persons on whom this honour is conferred take rank above the gentlemen and esquires, and are entitled to the prefix Sir to their former name and surname. Their wives also are entitled to prefix the word Dame, and to be addressed by the compellation Your Ladyship or My Lady. The Knights of particular Orders, as of the Garter, the Thistle, St. Patrick, the Bath, are a kind of select number of the body of the knighthood, and the name of the Order to which they belong is ordinarily used by and of them, and thus becomes of the nature of a title of honour. The Bannerets of former ages were a class of knights superior to the ordinary knight-bachelor, forming in fact an Order intermediate between the knight, in its ordinary sense, and the baron. The Baronet, which is quite a new dignity, not having been known before the reign of James 1, has, besides its name, which is placed after the name and surname of the person spoken of, the privilege of prefixing Sir; and their wives are entitled to the prefix of Dame, and to be addressed as My Lady and Your Ladyship. Besides these, there are the ecclesiastical dignities of Bishop and Archbishop, which bring with them the right to certain titles of honour besides the phrases by which the dignity itself is designated. And custom seems to have sanctioned the claim of the persons who possess inferior dignities in the church to certain honourable titles or compellations, and it is usual to bestow on all persons who are admitted into the clerical order the title of Reverend. There are also academical distinctions which are of the nature of titles of honour, although they are not usually considered to fall under the denomination. Municipal offices have also titles accompanying them; and in the law there are very eminent offices the names of which become titles of honour to the possessors of them, and which bring with them the right to certain terms of distinction. All titles of honour appear to have been originally names of office. The earl in England had in former ages substantial duties to perform in his county, as the sheriff (the Vice-Comes or Vice-Earl) has now; but the name has remained now that the peculiar duties are gone, and so it is with respect to other dignities. The emperor or king, the highest dignity known in Europe, still performs the duties which originally belonged to the office, or at least the most important of them, as well as enjoys the rank, dignity, and honours; and on the Continent there are dukes and earls who have still an important political character. Some of these dignities and the titles correspondent to them are hereditary. So were the eminent offices which they designate in the remote ages, when there were duties to be performed. Hence hereditary titles. The distinction which the possession of titles of honour gives in society has always made them objects of VOL. XXV.-B ambition; and it may be questioned whether, as far as 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 The following species are found in Europe :- 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, 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. |