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LONG-TAILED TITS. 487 
Islands of the west, as, for instance, Islay and Skye, in which latter 
locality Dixon met with it. A party of four were seen by Dr. Saxby 
in Unst in the middle of April 1860; but that gentleman states that he has 
never met with the bird in any other part of the Shetlands; nor does it 
ever appear to have visited the Orkneys or the Faroes. In Ireland the 
Long-tailed Tit, according to Thompson, is distributed through the wooded 
districts, especially in the northern portions of the island, although not 
commonly. 
The British form of the Long-tailed Tit is found in France, Western 
Germany, Northern Italy, and some parts of Turkey, and apparently 
interbreeds with the Continental form A. caudata, which differs from it 
in the adult bird having a pure white head. The latter form ranges 
throughout Northern and Central Europe between the Arctic circle and 
the Alps, its range extending eastwards through Southern Siberia to the 
Pacific. Jn the north, from St. Petersburg eastwards, the tail is somewhat 
lengthened, varying from 38°7 to 4 inch, instead of from 3°3 to 3°5 inch. 
This form has received the name of A. macrura, and is replaced in the 
valley of the Amoor by A. caudata, although, curiously enough, it 
reappears on the island of Askold. In Kamtschatka, the North Island of 
Japan, and in Manchuria one of these two forms occurs; but on the chief 
island of Japan A. trivirgata is found, which is, in fact, a reappearance 
of A. rosea, whose only claim to rank as a distinct species rests on the 
fact that in the majority of skins, though not in all, the black supercilium 
passes across the lores to the base of the bill. In Spain, Central and South 
Italy, and Sicily A. irdiz is found, in which the vinaceous colour on the 
scapulars is replaced by grey; but in Lombardy it would appear that 
A. irbii and A. rosea interbreed, as intermediate examples occur. In the 
Balkan peninsula, Asia Minor, Persia, and Turkestan a distinct species, 
A. tephronota, occurs, resembling A. irbii, but differing from it in having 
a black patch on the throat. It is not known how far east this bird 
ranges; but in China it is represented by A. glaucogularis, a species only 
differing from it in having the white forehead replaced by black. 
The Long-tailed Tit is a lover of the woods and groves ; and unless the 
district is a well-timbered one, it is almost useless to expect to fall in with 
it. Like all its little congeners, it may often be seen in the vicinity of 
houses, haunting the gardens and orchards. Favourite places are the 
broad pasture-lands divided from each other by tall hedges, with here and 
there a little plantation, or a waste corner left to grow bushes of gorse 
and blackthorn. It may often be seen on the borders of the forest, on the 
land which is, as it were, struggling against the encroachment of the trees, 
and studded with tall hawthorns, a few birches, and plenty of thicket, in 
which. the “ Bottle-Tit ”’ loves to build its nest. 
As with all the Tits, the present species is perhaps the most engaging 
