226 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Measurements and structure. — (^ wing 73-79 mm., tail 60-68, 

 tarsus 19-21, bill from skull 10-11 , wddth at nostrils 4-5 (12 measured). 

 $ wing 70-77, bill from skull 9.5-11, width at nostrils 4-4.5. 



Characters and allied forms. — P. m. excelsus (north-west 

 Africa) has bill intermediate between P. m. major and P. m. neivtoni 

 and fringes of innermost secondaries ashy-grey not yellow, P. m. 

 corsus (Corsica, Sardinia) similar but slightly smaller and breast 

 and belly cream-coloured and flanks grejash, P. m. blanfordi (Persia, 

 Palestine) has paler upper- and under-parts, and even juvenile has 

 fringes of secondaries blue-grey and those of innermost secondaries 

 ashy-grey, several other forms very similar to P. m. major have been 

 separated ; P. m. bokharensis (Turkestan), P. m. intermedins (east 

 Persia, Afghanistan) and P. m. caschmirensis (Kashmir) differ in 

 having blue-grey upper-parts and whitish under-parts ; P. m. 

 minor (Manchuria) and P. m. commixtus (south China) are similar 

 but have mantle washed yellowish-green. 



Breeding-habits. — Similar to those of the British Great Tit 

 Eggs. — Also indistinguishable, but slightly smaller on the average, 

 17.2x13.4 mm. Breeding-season. — In central Euroj)e from end 

 April onward and in late May in the Baltic provinces. Aj^parently 

 two broods, as a rule. 



Food. — Similar to that of the British race. 



Distribution. — British Isles. — Great numbers Norfolk and Suffolk 

 coasts Oct., 1910 (C. B. Ticehurst, Brit. B., iv, p. 247). Others at 

 same time Kent and in Scilly Isles in Nov. (N. F. Ticehurst, I.e., 

 p. 248), and Haddington and Lincolnshire coasts and Lines, and 

 Essex lights in Oct. {Bull. B.O.C., xxx, p. 230). Return migration 

 observed Suffolk (Feb., Mar., and April, 1911) and Kent (Mar. 

 one obtained) {t.c. p. 164). One, Isle of May, Oct. 15, 1910 

 (E. V. Baxter and L. J. Rintoul, Ann. S.N.H., 1911, p. 3). 

 One Fair Isle, Nov. 17, 1910, and one probable Shetlands, Oct. 

 25, 1910 {id., I.e., p. 136). Six or seven seen Lerwick (Shetlands), 

 Oct., 1914, and one Dec. probably of this form {Scot. Nat., 1915, 

 pp. 115, 190), about a dozen Fair Isle end Oct., two staying until 

 end Jan., 1915 {I.e., p. 103). In Oct., 1910, many, probably of 

 this form, seen in Yorks., and apparently immigrant Great Tits 

 have often been noted in avitumn on east coasts England, and 

 particularly in 1878, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1889, and 1901 (c/. Birds 

 Yorks., I, p. 108), while what was deemed a return migration was 

 noted in Norfolk in Feb., 1848 {Birds Norfolk, i, p. 140), but no 

 examples of these earlier immigrations have been identified. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Europe generally to Mediterranean, east 

 to west Siberia and Altai. Replaced by allied forms on Mediter- 

 ranean islands and Greece, north-west Africa and many parts of 

 Asia. 



