1. PARUS. i 



I. Panurin.e. Nostrils ovate, with a large 

 operculum, the nasal opening situated pos- 

 teriorly; hidden by small plumes. Tongue 

 horny, obtuse, divided at the end, ter- 

 minating in a few horny bristles. One 

 genus Panurus *, p. 77. 



1. PARUS. 



Type. 



Parus, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i. p. 341 (1766) P. major. 



Lophophanes, Kaup, Nat'drl. Syst. p. 92 (1829) P. cristatus. 



Cyanistes, id. op. cit. p. 99 P. cyaneus. 



Poecile, id. op. cit. ^^.Wi P. ater. 



Melanochlora, Lesson, Rev. Zool. p. 42 (1839) P. sultaneus. 



Crataionyx, Ei/ton, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 104 P. sultaneus. 



Ptilobaphus, Reichenh. Nat. Sijst. pi. Ixii. (1 850) P. sultaneus. 



Penthestes, Reichenb. I. c P. niger. 



Machlolophus, Cah. Mas. Hein. i. p. 91 (1850) P. spilonotus. 



Baeolophus, id. I. cit. (note) P. bicolor. 



Pentheres, id. op. cit. p. 92 P. niger. 



Melaniparus (!), Bp. Cmsp. Av. i. p. 228 (1850) P. sultaneus. 



Poekilis, Blasius, Lid of B. of Eur. p. 8 (1862) P. ater. 



Head of Parus major, with bill to show nostrils (exposed). 



Bill short, subulate, more or less conical, blunt at the tip, hardly 

 notched, or without any notch at all ; nostrils always round and 

 small, hidden, like the base of the bill, by recumbent little feathers 

 of the forehead, never operculated, the margins being ossified ; first 

 primary well developed, but less than half the next one in length ; 

 tip of wing formed by 3rd to 5th primaries ; tail varying in length 

 and shape ; tarsus comparatively short, less than double the length 

 of the hallux, anteriorly covered with many transverse scales, which 

 in some species, in old birds, tend to fuse into one another ; many 

 species have a feather- crest. Plumage often beautifully coloured, 

 the principal colours being black, yellow, and blue, whilst green 

 and red are excluded ; back and wings frequently spotted, but 

 streaks and cross markings do not occur. Most of the North - 

 American species are plain and dull in colour ; African Tits prin- 

 cipally black. 



Eanije. About 46 species in the Indian, Ethiopian, Palasarctic, 

 and Nearctic Regions. 



* Panurus does not belong to the ParidcB, but perhaps to the Frbigillidcp. 

 Tl\e nostrils are nearer to the culmen than to the edge of the maxilla, the 

 culmen curved, and the first primary very short. 



b2 



