1886.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 389 



consobrina are pure white in marked contrast with the gray of the crown, 

 and without a trace of black, and a distinct white mustachial stripe sep- 

 arates the black of the cheeks and ears from the ochraceous of the 

 chin and throat. The females from China and Japan may be correctly 

 sexed, but are probably birds of the year, since their general style of 

 coloration is that of the young B. penduUna, and it would hardly be 

 justifiable to presume that the adult female of the eastern species 

 should differ from the male in having no black ear- patch, while the two 

 sexes of the European species in that respect are nearly alike. 



In regard to size B. consobrina seems to be somewhat smaller than 

 its European cousin, for three specimens of the latter in very abraded 

 plumage average, wing 56 

 pare the following: 



"i"', and tail-feathers 47™™, with which com- 



Meaaurementa of Remiza consobrina. 



I am strongly convinced that Mr. Seebohm is perfectly justified in 

 pronouncing B. consobrina a good species. 



This interesting bird ought to attract the attention of the Japanese 

 ornithologists especially, and no efforts should be spared in order to 

 find out whether it breeds in the southern parts of the emjure or not. 

 I am not aware that the high summer plumage of the present species 

 has been yet obtained and described, and specimens taken during that 

 season would be a great j^rize. The bird must be looked for in marshy 

 districts near water, where the Penduliue Tit builds its elegantly woven 

 retort-shaped nest, suspending it from some reed or thin willow twig. 

 Its habits during the breeding season are exceedingly retired, and the 

 bird may breed in the immediate neighborhood without anybody know- 

 ing it. In mild climates it is a resident throughout the year. 



SITTA Linn. 

 llhQ.—Sitta Linn., S. N., 10 ed., i, p. 115 (type S. europcea). 



Mr. Seebohm has already pronounced the Nuthatches from Hondo 

 8itta amurensis, and those from Yesso different and " almost uralensisJ^ 

 I agree to the former being amnrensis and to the latter being different, 

 but I must dissent from calling them walensis or even "almost uralen- 

 sis." Mr. L. Taczanowski, in a paper in the Bulletin de la Soci6t6 Zoo- 

 logique de France (1882, p. 385), has pointed out very nicely the (char- 

 acters which separate the Eastern Asiatic Nuthatches from ^'. europcea 

 and 8. nralensis, viz, the general smaller size of the eastern birds, and 



