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Top of head and sides of neck 

 intense black, with bluish irridescence. 

 Cheeks white. Middle of breast and 

 abdomen dull black, rest of the under 

 parts dull gray. A yellowish green 

 band separates the black nape from the 

 gray of the back. Eest of the back 

 rump and upper tail coverts bluish 

 gray. Tail black, washed with gray 

 above the outer feathers edged white. 

 Wings dull black, with a white bar, and 

 bluish gray edges to secondaries and 

 tertials. Immature birds have a 

 yellowish washing over the whole 

 plumage. 



Distribution. — China and Japan. 

 Common resident in the Yangtse 

 Valley. 



Nest and Eggs. — The uests are 

 hidden away carefully in hollow trees, 

 holes in walls, banks, or similar places. 

 The nest is simply a shallow bowl, or 

 a hollow pad, of dry grass roots, njoss, 

 feathers, hair, or such material, 

 adapted in size and shape to the space 

 it occupies. A clutch consists of from 

 five to seven white eggs, speckled with 

 two shades of red. 



Somewhat similar, but much more 

 rare is the Yelloiu Tit [Pardaliparus 

 venustulus (Swinhoe)] , which has the 

 gray of the back and rump washed 

 with yellow, and a yellow abdomen. 

 It is a winter visitant in the upper 

 part of the Yangtse Valley, and has 

 been once recorded from Mokansan in 

 April. 



THE MARSH TIT. 



PAKUS PALUSTKIS, LINN. 

 Description.— IjQrxgth. four and a half 

 inches. 



