8 Nicholson, PalcEarctic Species of Coal-Tits. 



tinged. A longer series of specimens from Eastern 

 Siberia may prove that the Coal-Tit of the far East may 

 be separable from the European species. 



In the British Museum are birds from Irkutsk and 

 Krasnoyarsk which I refer to P. ater, not to P. pekinensis, 

 and I believe it to be a mistake to record the latter 

 species from the Valley of the Yenesei. 



P, insidaris, Hellmayr, from Japan, is, as might have 

 been expected, very closely allied to P. pckinensis, but 

 there is a much more decided tinge of fawn-colour on the 

 flanks, and it has the same conspicuous white spots on the 

 wing-coverts. There is also a fulvescent tinge on the rump. 

 Of the brown- or olive-backed section it is also difficult to 

 write down the distinctive characters, but Mr. Hellmayr 

 has given the characters which I enumerate below. 



P. Cypriotes, Dresser, is the darkest race of this whole 

 section, the back being not so much olive-brown as dusky- 

 grey, with an olive-brown wash. The smoky-brown tinge 

 of the sides of the body is also much darker and less 

 inclined to buff than in any of the other forms, and the 

 black on the throat extends further on to the chest. 



P. p/iaeonotiis, Blanford, is a somewhat larger and 

 browner bird, with a very little admixture of grey on the 

 back. The sides of the body are of a pale fawn tint. 



P. atlas, Meade-Waldo, from Morocco, is a representa- 

 tive of P. phaeonotus, but with the sides of the body 

 darker and more smoky-brown. 



P. inoltchanowii is described by Professor Menzbier 

 from the Crimea as a very distinct form, allied to 

 P. phaeonotus. 



P. inichaloivskii, Bogd. has a very stout bill, and has 

 pale fawn-coloured flanks, but somewhat deeper in tint 

 than P. phaeonotus. It is very closely allied to the latter 

 species, but is a little darker brown. 



