492 BRITISH BIRDS. 
PANURUS BIARMICUS. 
BEARDED TIT. 
(Puate 12.) 
Parus barbatus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 567 (1760). 
Parus biarmicus, Zinn. Syst, Nat. i. p. 8342 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
(Degland), (Gerbe), Naumann, Temminck, (Gray), (Newton), (Dresser), &e. 
Calamophilus biarmicus (Linn.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 17 
(1816). 
Panurus biarmicus (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p. 202 (1816). 
Mystacinus biarmicus (Linn.), Bove, Ists, 1822, p. 556. 
Higythalus biarmicus (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1826, p. 975. 
Calamophilus barbatus (Briss.), Keys, u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. p. xiii (1840). 
Paroides biarmicus (Linn.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 195 (1847). 
Panurus barbatus (Briss.), Saunders, Ibis, 1871, p. 208. 
The Bearded Tit is not yet extinct in this country, though it seems to 
be in a fair way to become so, in consequence of the dramage of its 
favourite marshes, of occasional severe winters, and of the incessant perse- 
cution to which it is subjected by reed-men in the commission of bird- 
fanciers and egg-collectors. It is still found in the fen-districts of Norfolk, 
in Devonshire, and more or less accidentally in some of the intervening 
country, and the south-east counties of England. Formerly its range 
extended more to the north; but it is doubtful whether it has ever been 
obtained in Scotland or Ireland, or even Wales. 
On the continent the range of the Bearded Tit is an extensive one ; but 
it has not been recorded south of the Mediterranean or north of Pomerania. 
In the latter country and in Holland and Hungary the Bearded Tit is a 
summer visitor. In Germany and France it is principally known as passing 
through in spring and autumn; but in Spain, Italy, and Sicily it appears 
to be aresident. In Greece and Asia Minor it is said to be extremely 
rare, its place being apparently taken by the Penduline Tit. Eastwards it — 
is much more common. It is resident in many suitable localities in South 
Russia—for example, at Sarepta;*it is extremely common in the delta of 
the Volga, and is also a resident in the delta of the Terek, as well as in 
Turkestan. Finsch obtained it in the swamps of the Kara Irtish, south 
of Lake Zaisan, on the borders of Chinese Tartary ; and Prjevalsky found it 
in North-eastern Thibet. Like other members of the subfamily of Parine, 
it is not to be wondered at that, in a range extending from Spain to Thibet, 
it shows considerable local variations of colouring. British examples are 
