the Birds of the Lower Petchora. 219 



Marsh-Tit sparingly at Ust Zylma and Habariki as long as 

 snow continued on the ground^ but did not see it afterwards. 



Parus cinctus, Bodd. 



We found one pair of the Lap Titmouse at Ust Zylma^ and 

 met with it more abundantly at Habariki. Further north it 

 again became rarer, and the last specimens we procured were 

 frequenting a willow-swamp a few miles to the north of the 

 arctic circle. On comparing our specimens with the bird 

 figured in Dresser's ' Birds of Europe/ and with his type of 

 P. grisescens, we remark that our birds approach the latter 

 species in being less russet on the flanks, and showing more 

 conspicuously the white edgings to the wing- and tail-feathers 

 than the western form. 



Ampelis garrulus, L. 



We shot a pair of Wax wings at Habariki on 4th June ; and 

 Seebohm saw a party of six flying north on the 12th, shortly 

 before we reached the Yorsa river. In the frozen-market at 

 St. Petersburg we bought a dozen of these beautiful birds for 

 eighty kopecs ; but they all turned out to be males. The pair 

 we shot at Habariki were not in very good plumage, having 

 very few and small wax appendages on the secondaries. The 

 eggs in the female were very large, and the testes of the male 

 very fully developed. As the yellow on the primaries is I- 

 shaped and not V-shaped, we presume the male to be a young 

 bird. In this pair the male differs from the female in the 

 following particulars : — It is a larger bird, with longer "wings 

 and tail, and slightly larger crest. The black on the throat 

 is much deeper in colour, and much more sharply defined. 

 The bar of yellow on the tail is much broader. The wax ap- 

 pendages are larger, and there are more of them. The yel- 

 low on the primaries is more brilliant, and the white on the 

 secondaries and on the wing-coverts is larger. Finally, the 

 chestnut on the under tail-coverts is decidedly darker in shade. 

 The difference in the colour of the under tail-coverts of the 

 two sexes is about the same as that between a ripe horse- 

 chestnut freshly taken from the husk, and one which has been 

 exposed for a day or two to the air. This will probably be 



q2 



