Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/805

TITMOUSE and downy woodpecker ; the note is a kind >f pleasing whistle ; the eggs are six or eight, white with a few red spots at the larger end, and are laid in holes of decayed trees. In the genus parus (Linn.) belongs the black- capped titmouse or chickadee (P. atricapillus, Linn.). (See BLACKCAP.) The largest of the European species is the great titmouse or tit (P. major, Linn.), called also oxeye and black- cap in England, and la charbonniere in France ; it is less than 6 in. long, with the head, fore part of neck, transverse band on sides, and longitudinal one on breast and abdomen, black ; cheeks white, back yellowish green, and breast and sides yellow ; wings and tail grayish. Its usual note is a loud cheep followed by a harsh chatter, in the spring resembling the filing of a saw and heard to a great distance; it imi- tates the notes of other birds, and in its habits TITUS 775 Hanging Tit (Paroides pendulinus). and food shows an alliance to the jays ; in its search for flies it visits the cottage tops and pulls the straw from the thatch; it is found from Norway and Sweden to the southern boundaries of Europe. The blue tit (P. cceru- leus, Linn.) is 4 in. long and 7f in. in alar ex- tent, with the upper part of the head light blue and encircled with white ; band round neck, and before and behind eyes, duller blue; cheeks white, back light yellowish green, under parts pale grayish yellow, and middle of breast dull blue. This is the handsomest and most fami- liar species ; in autumn it quits the woods and . thickets and visits the gardens and orchards, in- cessantly hopping about among the branches, pert and irritable ; it is called tomtit, bluecap, bluebonnet, and billy-biter in various parts of England. It is a permanent resident in Great Britain ; it is very bold when sitting, hissing like a snake or angry kitten, and severely bi- ting the hand brought near the nest. The hanging tit (paroides pendulinus, Koch), 4 in. long, is reddish gray above, with wings and tail blackish, and lower parts rosy white; it is found in eastern and northern Europe, and constructs very artistically a nest woven of the fibres of bark and the cotton of the seeds of willows, fastened to a reed or thin branch and surrounded by closely tangled bushes, which protect it from the wind and hide it from view. TITUS, a N. E. county of Texas, bounded N. by Sulphur fork of Red river, S. by Big Cy- press bayou, and intersected by White Oak bayou; area, 940 sq.m. ; pop. in 1870, 11,339, of whom 2,818 were colored. The surface is generally level and the soil fertile. The county is well timbered, and contains iron ore. The chief productions in 1870 were 382,029 bushels of Indian corn, 6,632 of oats, 48,343 of sweet potatoes, and 7,039 bales of cotton. There were 3,437 horses, 4,697 milch cows, 10,784 other cattle, 3,798 sheep, 28,711 swine, and 7 saw mills. Capital, Mount Pleasant. TITUS (TITUS FLAVITJS SABINUS VESPASIA- NUS), a Roman emperor, born Dec. 30, A. D. 40, died near Reate in the Sabine country, Sept. 13, 81. He was the son of Vespasian, and was educated in the imperial household with Bri- tannicus, the son of Claudius, who was poi- soned by Nero. While still young he served as military tribune in Britain and Germany, and subsequently became quaestor. During the Jewish war he commanded a legion under his father, and captured Tarichsea, Gamala, and other places. When Vespasian, proclaimed emperor by his army, went to Rome, he left Titus to end the Jewish war, which he accom- plished in September, 70, by the capture of Jerusalem and the massacre and dispersion of its inhabitants. Subsequently he returned to Rome by the order of his father, carrying with him Berenice, the daughter of Herod Agrippa, with whom he had fallen in love (see BERE- NICE), and by his prompt obedience proved that the rumors which charged him with aim- ing at the throne were unfounded. For their common success in the Jewish war he had with his father the honor of a triumph, and the arch of Titus then erected is still standing. (See ROME, vol. xiv., p. 412.) During the remain- ing years of the reign of Vespasian he was employed in discharging the highest functions of state. He drew up the imperial edicts, and was permitted to write letters in the emperor's name. He ascended the throne in 79, and soon dispelled the impression, produced by some features of his earlier conduct, that he would be another Nero. The people called him amor et delicice generis Jiumani, and Suetonius re- cords that he exclaimed, Amid, diem perdidi, whenever a day passed without his being able to do a service to a friend or petitioner. His reign was marked by a succession of terrible calamities, the injuries inflicted by which he made earnest, efforts to repair. In 79 the