376 REVIEW OF JAPANESE BIRDS. 



Subsenns PARUS. 



(217) Parus minor Temm. & Schl. 

 Lesser Tit. Slii-jiu-kara. 



1835.— ParHS major Temm., Mjui. d'Ora., 2 ed., ill, p. 209 (part) (nee Lln.). 



1849.— Pnriis minor Temm. & Schleg., Fauna Jap. Aves (p. 70, pi. xxxiii).— Cassin, 

 Pr. Phila. Acad.. 18.58, p. 192.— Whitely, Ibis, 1867, p. 198.— SwiNiiOE, Ibis, 

 1874, p. 1.56.— Blakist.,& Pryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 2:55. — lid., Tr. As. Soc. Jap., 

 VIII, 1880, p. 217.— /(d., ibid., x, 1882, p. 150.— Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 33.— 

 Blakist., ChrysauHi., 1833, Jan., p. 30.— /rf., ibid., 1883, Febr., p. —.—Id., 

 Am. List B. Jap., p. 15 (1884).— JoUY, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vi, 1883, p. 286. 



This may finally turn out to be so closely connected with Parits cine- 

 reus ViEiLL.* by intermediate links tbat the specific validity cannot 

 be maintained, in which case the Japan bird would have to stand as 

 Farias cinereus minor [or eventually P. nipalensis minor]. Dr. Gadow 

 (Cat. B. Brit. Mns., viii, p. 17), under P. cinereus, takes pains to show 

 tbat the two forms are specifically distinct, although two pages earlier 

 he states in regard to P. minor, that in China " it gradually changes 

 into P. cinereus.^'' The intermediate specimens from China have been 

 called, by Swiuhoe, Parus commixtus (Ibis, 18G8, p. 63). These are the 

 eastern, somewhat faded, representatives of Parus major of Europe, 

 which is quite like P. minor above, but has the white of the lower sur- 

 ^ce replaced by vivid yellow. It is interesting in this connection to 

 note, that a brighter colored representative, P. monticolus Vigors, is 

 found in the mountains of Southeastern Asia, an apparent race of which, 

 Parus monticolus insperatus,i was discovered by Mr. Swinhoe in south- 

 ern Formosa. 



Mr. Jouy discovered the joung of P. minor in the first })lumage at 

 Fuji-Yama in the beginning of July. It is very interesting, inasmuch 

 as iJ is distinguished from the young of P. major in the corresponding 

 plumage by the same characters which separate the adults: it is smaller, 

 and the under side is whiter. 



S jur., first plumage (U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 88642; coll. P. L. Jouy, No. 383; Fuji- 

 Yama, Hondo, July 2, 1882). Distribution of colors as iu the adult, but the whitish 

 nuchal spot apparently larger, : nd the dark throat patch smaller, an(\ connected with 

 the dark color on the upper neck by a narrow and scarcely continuous streak ; on 

 the breast only au indication of the dark middle streak, and none on the abdomen; 

 the green of the back is very dull, and the ashy gray of the rump slightly suffused 

 with olive; all the dark parts on head and neck are of a dull slate color slightly suf- 

 fused with olive ; the whit« portions are washed with a pale creamy yellow. 



* Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., sx, p. 316 (1818).— Parj/s atriceps Horsfield, Tr. Linn. 

 Soc. xiii (p. 160) (1821). — Parus nipalensis Hodgson, Ind. Rev., 1838 (p. 31). I may 

 mention here, however, that not all authors agree in uniting the Javan bird (true 

 cinereus) with the Indian and Chinese representative {nipalensis). The former is said 

 to have the white nuchal spot entirely surrounded by black, while in the latter it is 

 only bordered in frsut and on the sides by that color. All the specimens of the latter 

 which I have t-xamined have the white spot immediately adjoining the gray of the 

 back ; but without typical specimens oi cinereus I cannot decide. 



'!Parm itisperatnx Swixmoe, Ibis, 1866, p. 308.— Zrf., P. Z. S., 1871, p. 361. 



