284 BRITISH BIRDS. 



BRITISH WILLOW-TIT IN WEST SCOTLAND. 



In Renfrewshire. 



On December 19th. 1910, I obtained a Tit at Giffnock, 

 Renfrewshire, wliich. on being submitted to Mr. H. F. 

 Witherby, was identified as a Willow-Tit {Parus atricapillus 

 Meinschmidti ) . 



The " Marsh " Tits have rather a curious distribution in 

 the west of Scotland, and until this has been worked out it 

 is impossible to say M'hether both P. palustris dresseri and 

 P. a. kleinschmidti are represented or only the latter. 



Robert W. S. Wilson. 



In Kirkcudbrightshire. 



My experience of the Willow-Tit in the stewartry of Kirk- 

 cudbright is very limited. I only know of it in one valley, 

 where it is fairly jDlentiful. 



I have at different times obtained two specimens for the 

 Royal Scottish Museum, one of which was sent to Dr. Hartert 

 for examination, and botli were identified as Parus atrica- 

 pillus kleinschmidti. 



I have never met \\\t\\ the Marsh-Tit in Scotland. 



M. Bedford. 



[In view of the fact that all the " Marsh " Tits examined 

 from the Forth and Moray areas liave been proved to be 

 Willow-Tits (c/. supra, p. 159), and that, so far as I know, 

 no Scottish-taken example of any form of Parus pahistris is 

 in existence, the above interesting notes are most significant. 

 It would seem that we are on the way to prove that the 

 Marsh-Tit is entirely replaced in Scotland by the Willow-Tit, 

 and it will be extremely interesting to follow this up by dis- 

 covering at which point the breeding distribution of Parus 

 palustris dresseri begins. — H.F.W.] 



BRITISH WILLOW-TIT IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 



Amongst some birds kindly sent to me for examination by 

 Mr. G. H. Caton Haigli were seven " Marsh-Tits," procured 

 near Grainsby, Lincolnshire. These birds all proved to be 

 British WUlow-Tits {Parus atricapillus kleinschmidti), and 

 Mr. Caton Haigh has never procured a Marsh-Tit (P. palustris 

 dresseri) in his district. He tells me that the Willow-Tit, as 

 it now proves to be, is a rare bird in Lincolnshire, and he 

 seldom sees it. Those examples which he has seen have 

 always been single birds in company with other Tits, except 

 on one occasion, wlien lie saw three of these birds together. 



