418 



PARINiE. 



TITS AND ALLIED SPECIES. 



The Tits, of which several species are permanent residents 

 in Britain, may be taken as the typical representatives of this 

 family, which is composed of small birds seldom attaining the 

 size of a House Sparrow, and characterized as follows. Their 

 general form is moderately full ; their head large, broadly ovate 

 and convex. Their bill is short, straight, tapering, hard, with 

 its outlines more or less convex, the mandibles thin-edged, and 

 rather obtuse, the upper destitute of notch. The tarsus is of 

 moderate length, rather stout, and distinctly scutellate ; the toes 

 large, especially the first, and the claws strong, compressed, 

 arched, and acute. The plumage is always soft, loose, and fiill, 

 especially on the hind part of the back ; the wings rather short, 

 concave, and rounded ; the tail generally of moderate length, 

 sometimes elongated, more or less arched, always narrow, and 

 composed of twelve narrow feathers. The nostrils are rather 

 small, roundish, and concealed by reversed bristly feathers. 

 The tongue is short, narrow, sagittate at the base, with the tip 

 terminated by four bristles. The oesophagus is narrow, with- 

 out dilatation ; the stomach roundish, somewhat compressed, 

 its lateral muscles of moderate strength, its cuticular lining 

 rugous ; the intestine short, of moderate width, the coeca small 

 and cylindrical. The digestive organs are thus not essentially 

 different from those of the other families of the Cantatores. 

 Plate XIII. Figs. 9, 10, 11, 12. 



In the form of their bill and feet, and in having the nostrils 

 covered by reversed bristly feathers, as well as in some of their 

 habits, the larger Pari exhibit a considerable affinity to the 

 Jays. Their bill approaches in form to that of the Sittinse 

 also, and their feet indicate a decided approximation of the two 



