PARID/K. 



99 



1 teS' ''-ats^' 



THE MARSH-TITMOUSE. 



Parus palustris, Linnaius. 



The Marsh-Titmouse is another of our resident species ; but with 

 the exception of the Crested Titmouse it is the least plentiful and 

 the most local of the genus. Its name is somewhat misleading, for 

 the bird may often be seen in orchards and gardens, and even in 

 pine-woods ; but it is partial to the vicinity of rivers, and to the 

 alders and pollarded willows which flourish on swampy ground. In 

 England, and in suitable parts of Wales, it is fairly common ; but 

 in Scotland it is very local, and is not known to breed to the north 

 of the valley of the Forth, where Mr. William Evans obtained a 

 nest in 1884, at Dunipace. In Ireland it is only recorded from cos. 

 Antrim, Kildare, and Dublin. 



British examples are somewhat browner on the upper parts and 

 flanks than Continental specimens, and, according to Dr. Stejneger, 

 they have also shorter tails. Nevertheless the ornithologists who have 

 described the British Coal Tit as a distinct species, have not been 

 equally courageous as regards the British Marsh-Tit, in which the 

 differences between the dull insular and the bright Continental forms 

 are quite as marked. Dr. Stejneger has emphasized his opinion 

 of this omission by naming our bird P. palustris dresscri ; and, as I 

 agree with him that it is inconsistent to recognize specific distinct- 

 ness in the former case and to reject it in the latter, I have treated 

 the variations in both as merely those of race. . In Scandinavia 



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