TREE-CLLMBIXG BIRDS 165 



theme of controversy amongst ornithologists. In 

 their great work, Birds of Europe, Messrs. Sharpe 

 and Dresser claim that the British Coal Tit is dis- 

 tinct from the Continental and more generally 

 distributed form. They therefore name the British 

 bird, Parus hritanuiciis, in contradistinction to the 

 more widely-spread Parus atcr. A difference of 

 plumage certainly exists, the point at issue being 

 whether this is sufficient to constitute a separate 

 species. The editor of " Yarrell " declines to recog- 

 nize P. britanniciis, on the ground that a form 

 intermediate between the two has been found in 

 certain Scottish forests. 



The Coal Tit is more reticent in its habits than 

 either of the two species already dealt with. 

 Although it may approach the homestead at times, 

 it is none the less essentially a woodland bird. One 

 often meets it in the solitudes, the quick " twee-twee- 

 twee " falling sharply on the ear, as the small grey 

 bird, with its black and white head alone con- 

 spicuous, flits into yiew. For a moment, after the 

 manner of its kind, it depends back-downwards 

 from a branch oyerhanging the path,' then it drops 

 quietly to the ground, following its inyestigations 

 amidst the fallen leaves, or about the roots on the 

 bankside. Very often little parties of Coal Tits 

 may be seen mingling with the Blue Tits on the 

 tree-tops, and sometimes accompanied bv Golden- 

 crested Wrens and Tree-creepers. 



The sudden incursion of these bright little armies, 

 hanging and tittering from every spray, and filling 

 the air w'ith their delicate note-calls, is one of the 

 many interesting episodes which the bird-lover 



