PARTNJE. 277 



Bill black ; legs dark plumbeous. Length 4^ inches ; wing 2f ; 

 tail 1| ; bill at front 9 mill. ; tarsus j^j. 



This apparently new species differs from P. ater in the black of 

 the throat only descending a short distance, not beyond the white 

 neck spot, and, in this point, differs still more from amodius. 

 It also wants the greenish tinge of ater, the lower parts are much 

 darker; and the white bars on the wings, and tips of the tertiaries 

 are totally wanting. 



This Tit was procured by jMr. Atkinson, Secretary to the Asiatic 

 Society, in the interior of Sikhim, at a considerable elevation, not 

 far from the snows. 



The next bird is somewhat of the type of P. major, of Europe. 



644. Parus monticolus, Vigors. 



P. Z. S. 1831, 22— Gould, Cent. H. B., pi. 29. f. 2— Gould, 

 Birds of Asia, pt. X. pi. 5 — Blyth, Cat. 536 — Hoksf., Cat. 595 — 

 Sarak-chak-pho, Lepch. 



The Green-backed Tit. 



Descr. — Above, the head black ; checks, and a nuchal mark, white; 

 back and rump olive-green ; wings with the lesser coverts grey, 

 the median and greater coverts black, edged blue, and tipped with 

 white, forming two wing bars ; quills black, edged with blue at the 

 base, and with white terminally, and the secondaries and tertials 

 broadly tipped with white ; tail black, bluish externally and tipped 

 white ; neck, throat, breast, and middle of the abdomen, black ; 

 rest of the lower parts yellow. 



Bill black ; legs dark plumbeous ; irides brown. Length 5^ 

 inches ; wing 2f ; tail 2^ ; bill at front 8 mill. ; tarsus j^. 



This is the most common species of Tit in the Himalayas, not 

 descending lower than about 5,000 feet, and it extends to the hill 

 ranges of Assam, being common on the top of the Khasia Hills, 

 though not found near the station of Cherra Poonjee. It is a 

 common and familiar bird about Darjeeling, coming into gardens ; 

 is active and sprightly, hunting over trees, bushes, and hedges, and 

 carefully searching the foliage, buds, and flowers, and occasionally 

 the bark of trees, for various small insects and larvse. I have had 

 the nest brought me, from a hole in a tree, a loose mass of feathers 



