TITMOUSE 967 
number of other genera form the Family Paridw of modern 
ornithology. Its limits are, however, very ill-defined; and here 
only the species best known to English readers can be noticed. 
I. The first to be mentioned is that called from its comparatively 
large size the Great Titmouse, P. major, but known also in many 
parts as the OX-EYE (p. 680), conspicuous by its black head, white 
cheeks and yellow breast, down which runs a black line, while in 
spring the cock makes himself heard by a loud love-note that 
resembles the noise made in sharpening a saw. It is widely 
distributed throughout the British Islands, and over nearly the 
whole of Europe and northern Asia. The next is the Blue 
Titmouse, Blue-cap or NUN (p. 646), P. cvruleus,t smaller than the 
last and more common. Its names are so characteristic as to make 
any description needless. A third common species, but not so 
numerous as either of the foregoing, is the Coal-Titmouse, P. ater, 
distinguished by its black cap, white cheeks and white nape. 
Some interest attaches to this species because of the difference 
observable between the race inhabiting the scanty remnants of the 
ancient Scottish forests and that which occurs throughout the rest 
of Britain. The former is more brightly tinted than the latter, 
having a clear bluish-grey mantle and the lower part of the back 
greenish, hardly either of which colours are to be seen in the same 
parts of more southern examples, which last have been described 
as forming a distinct species, P. britannicus. But it is to be 
observed that the denizens of the old Scotch fir-woods are nearly 
midway in coloration between the dingy southern birds and those 
which prevail over the greater part of the Continent. It would 
therefore seem unreasonable to speak of two species only: there 
should be either three or one, and the latter alternative is to be 
preferred, provided the existence of the local races be duly 
recognized. Much the same thing is to be noticed in the next 
species to be mentioned, the Marsh-Titmouse, P. palustris, which, 
sombre as is its plumage, is subject to considerable local variation 
in its very extensive range, and has been called P. borealis in 
Scandinavia, P. alpestris in the Alps and P. lugubris in south-eastern 
Europe, to say nothing of forms like P. baicalensis, P. camchatkensis 
and others, whose names denote its local variations in northern 
Asia, while no great violence is exercised if to these be tacked on 
P. atricapilla with several geographical races which inhabit North 
America. A fifth British species is the rare Crested Titmouse, P. 
cristatus, only found in limited districts in Scotland, though common 
enough, especially in pine-woods, in many parts of Europe. 
It is impossible to state how many species of Parus exist, their 
1 Canon Tristram informs me that the historic bottle at Oxbridge (supra, 
p- 553, note) was reoccupied in 1895, making a tenancy, though not quite con- 
tinuous, of at least 110 years. 
