498 PARIDiE. 



P. horeaUs, and has been very generally acknowledged as a 

 distinct species, though by some the P. alpestris just men- 

 tioned has been confounded with it. Still further to the 

 eastward other allies of P. horealis, to which the names of 

 P. haicalejisis and P. kamchatkeiisis have been given, are 

 said to be found. In North America this group of birds is 

 represented by P. atricapUlus with its local forms, P. septen- 

 trlonal'is, P. carolmensis and P. occtdentaUs— all originally 

 described as distinct species, but now reduced to the rank of 

 varieties by Dr. Coues. 



The bill is black : the irides dark hazel : the forehead, 

 crown and nape black, slightly glossed with bluish-gi-een ; 

 the cheeks and sides of the neck dull white, the latter 

 tinged with buff"; the back and wing-coverts hair-brown; 

 the rump and upper tail-coverts nearly the same, but lighter 

 and inclining to dull buff; quills blackish-brown, those of 

 the wing edged with hair-brown ; the chin black ; the throat 

 and breast, dull white ; belly, flanks and lower tail-coverts, 

 tinged with dull buff ; quills beneath, shining grey : legs, 

 toes and claws, bluish-black. 



The whole length is four inches and a half. From the 

 carpal joint to the end of the wing tw^o inches and three- 

 eighths : the third primary shorter than the fourth, which is 

 equal to the fifth, and these two are the longest in the wing. 

 The sexes do not differ in plumage : the young resemble 

 the adults, but have the colours less bright. 



By many authors the ParicUe are thought to bear affinity 

 to the Crows, and some members of both groups certainly 

 have in common the habit of grasping their prey with one 

 foot while picking it. It may be safely said that birds ]uore 

 useful to the gardener and the planter than the four species 

 of Titmouse now described do not exist in Britain. The 

 worst that can be proved against them is that they occa- 

 sionally help themselves to hazel-nuts and walnuts, and that 

 sometimes a bird acquires the trick of taking bees from their 

 hives. This last must be regarded as an individual pecu- 

 liarity, and when observed should, in the interest of the whole 

 race, be speedily stopped by the destruction of the malefactor. 



