PASSERINE BIRDS OF CEYLON. 35 



Family Paridje 



Genus Parus. 



Tits. 



Gates in the " Fauna of British India " treats the Tits as a 

 sub-f amil}^ of the Corvidse, but by most ornithologists they are 

 raised to the rank of a family. As in the Corvidse, the nestling 

 plumage resembles that of the adult, though paler, and the 

 nostrils are concealed by bristles. The first primary, however, 

 does not exceed haM the length of the second. 



Tits are found over the greater part of the globe ; but only 

 one representative, the gray Tit, so familiar to up-country 

 residents, is found in Ceylon. They are all small birds, and 

 bear a great familj^ resemblance. The bill is short and conical, 

 and, though somewhat curved, is not hooked at the tip. 

 The rictal bristles are short, those concealing the nostrils short 

 and thick. The Things are weak and rounded. The legs and 

 feet are fairly stout. In the genus Parus there is no crest, 

 and the tail is slightly rounded. In their habits all Tits are 

 more or less alike, going about in pairs or small parties, and 

 roaming actively about the trunks and branches of trees in 

 search of the insects and seeds on which they feed. 



Parus major mahrattarum. 

 The Indian Gray Tit. 



Parus atriceps (Gates, Vol. I., p. 46 ; Legge, p. 557). 



Description. — Head, neck, and chest black, save for a broad 

 white patch on the cheeks and ear coverts ; a broad band of 

 black runs down the centre of the breast and abdomen ; the 

 nape is bordered behind by a whitish patch ; the rest of the 

 back, the scapulars, rump, and the wing coverts bluish-gray, 

 the greater wing coverts edged with gray and broadly tipped 

 with white ; wing quills blackish-brown, the longer primaries 

 narrowly and the tertiaries more broadly edged with white ; 

 upper tail coverts deep bluish-gray ; tail black, the outer 

 feathers white with broad black inner margins and black 

 shafts ; the sides of the breast and abdomen whitish, deepening 

 on the flanks to the hue of the back ; under tail coverts black 

 in the centre, white at the edges. 



