BLYTH ON BRITISH TITS. 268 



LEACH,) has been very incongruously classed among these birds, and 

 the Bottle Tit also, (P. caudatus, RAY,) differs too essentially, I con- 

 sider, to be retained under the generic appellation Parus. The genus 

 then, with these restrictions, will contain five British species ; one of 

 which, the beautiful Crested Tit (P. cristatus), is a rare inhabitant 

 of some of the Scottish forests, and will probably never be found in 

 South Britain. The other four abound throughout the country, and 

 are well known to all who have paid the least attention to birds : these 

 are, the Blue Tit, or Tomtit, as it is generally called (P. cceruleus) ; 

 the Great Tit, Ox-eye, or Joe Bent (P. major) ; the Marsh Tit, or 

 Lesser Blackcap, as I have heard it called (P. palustris) ; and the 

 Cole Tit (P. ater}. 



Several of the old genera of birds, as for example the Woodpeckers, 

 (Picus), the Parrots (Psittacus), and the Pigeons (Columba), it has 

 been found convenient to divide into small groups on account of their 

 great multiplicity of species ; and although there is undoubtedly a very 

 strong general resemblance to be observed throughout all the various 

 members of those genera, still they exhibit also a considerable diversity 

 of habit, and of course a corresponding modification in their structure ; 

 sufficient to allow of their being formed into several very natural divi- 

 sions. The genus Parus also, as here restricted to the species which 

 builds in holes, still presents considerable modifications of form, and of 

 habit : the Marsh Tit, Crested Tit, and Cole Tit, for example, have 

 perhaps as much right to be separated from the Great Tit (P. major), 

 and its immediate congeners, as the genera Chrysoptilus and Dendro- 

 copus have from Picus among the woodpeckers as now divided. The 

 common Blue Tit also, might illustrate another form among the Tits, 

 differing considerably from the other British species, both in manners 

 and in make. The species of Parus, however, are not, as in the above- 

 mentioned genera, so remarkably numerous as to perplex and confuse 

 the naturalist when all arranged together under one generic appellation, 

 and it would, therefore, in this instance, be unnecessary to add to the 

 long catalogue of generic names, by forming the Tits into several genera 

 instead of one. The Bottle Tit, however, should be separate from 

 Parus, and also the continental P. pendulinus. 



The resemblance which these little birds bear to the jays (Garrulus), 

 is curious, and has often been noticed. " Form, habits, even the pecu- 

 liar looseness of texture of the plumage, all," says C. Bonaparte, " are 

 similar in these genera, hitherto estimated so widely different. This 

 resemblance extends even to colour in some species ; it may even be 

 asked, what else, in fact, is the Canada Jay (G. Canadensis,) than a 



