Family PARIDAE. 



Parus ater L. — Coal-Titmouse. 



(Plate 41, fig. a-c). 

 (Snouckaert : Avifauna Neerlandica, p. 30, No. 66). 



Colour of surface of shell 

 Colour of spots : 



Average dimensions: 

 Average weight of shell: 

 Texture of shell: 

 Shape : 



Nest: 



Site of nest: 



Number of eggs: 

 Breeding season: 

 Duration of incubation: 

 Remarks : 



milk-white. 



reddish brown, in light and dark shades. As 

 a rule a more or less distinct zone occurs 

 at the thicker ends of the eggs. 



14.8 X 11.6 millimetres. 



0.064 gram. 



not specially characterized. 



ovoidal, mostly pointed. 



consists of vegetable materials, hair and 

 sometimes feathers. 



more or less close to the ground in holes 

 of trees; in hollow tree stumps and roots; 

 in mouse and rabbit holes, etc. ^) 



7—10 (after-set: 6—7). 



May, beginning of July. 



about 13 days. 



Ater-eggs cannot always be distinguished 

 with certainty from those of coeruleus or 

 of pal. longirostris and atric. rhenanus ; 

 the latter, however, are usually marked 

 brighter and more thickly, and are consid- 

 erably larger. Many ater-Qggs are not 

 larger than caudatus-eggs ; but the ground 

 colour of ater-eggs is of a purer white 

 and their markings are more distinct. 



1) Mr. J. B. Bernink discovered (July 1909) on one of the banks of the Dinkel 

 a breeding place in a forsaken hole of Riparia riparia (L). 



