NOTES. 283 



THE IRISH COAL-TIT. 



At the December meeting of the British Ornithologists' 

 Club Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant exhibited some specimens of 

 Coal-Tits from Ireland, and described the bird as a new species 

 under the name of Parus hihernicus {Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XXVII., 

 pp. 36 and 37).* This interesting bird differs from 

 Parus ater hritannicus chiefly in liaving the light patches 

 covering the sides of the head and neck, and the occipital spot 

 yellow, the breast and belly yellow, in marked contrast to 

 the buff of the flanks, and the mantle and back more 

 strongly washed with olive-buff. These characters are much 

 more marked in some individuals than in others. Mr. Ogilvie- 

 Grant has examined examples from the following counties : — 

 Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, West Meath and Sligo ; those 

 from the last-named county, which were sent to him by Mr. 

 Collingwood Ingram, being the first he had seen. 



For the present I am inclined to regard the bird as a 

 geographical form rather than a species, as Mr. Grant considers 

 it, but a full knowledge of its distribution must be obtained 

 before this can be determined, and Mr. Grant informs me 

 tliat he will shortly be in possession of further details on this 

 point. At present, examples from co. Down present a some- 

 what puzzling problem, since of some specimens obtained at 

 Clandeboye in January, 1904, by Mr. Grant himself, all 

 except one are indistinguishable from P. a. hritannicus. 

 This one, however, is distinctly tinged with yellow on the 

 cheeks, and has the upper parts as strongly washed with 

 olive-buff as any of the typical specimens of P. hihernicus, 

 A specimen obtained on January 19th, 1911, at Hillsborough, 

 CO. Down, and kindly sent to me by Mr. N. H. Foster, has. 

 a slight tinge of pale yellow on the lower part of the 

 belly, but is otherwise like P. a. hritannicus. A closer- 

 study of the Irish Coal-Tit will, I thmk, show that it is; 

 a somewhat variable geographical form, and that while 

 some examples are strikingly distinct, others are barely 

 distinguishable, or perhaps indistinguishable, from P. a. 

 hritannicus. 



H. F. WlTHERBY. 



* It is most regrettable that before the pubKcation of the Bulletin 

 a note appeared, on the authority of Su- WilHam Ingram, in the Daily 

 Mail (December 28, 1910. No. 4593, p. 3), which, although inaccurate 

 in many particulars, contains a sufficient description and the Latin 

 name " Parus hibernicus " to allow it to stand as the first description 

 of the bird according to the present rules of zoological nomenclature. 



