443 Letters, Announcements, ^c, 



dilated much on the Ganga d'Afrique, in patois "Gandoule"- 

 which he seemed to think far more curious than a Flamingo. 

 Hoping that this long story may be worth the telling, 



I am, &c., 



J. W. Clark. 

 Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, 

 Cambridge, March 1870. 



Harlem, March 27, 1870. 

 Sir, — On reading the letter addressed to you by Mr. Sharpe 

 {supra, pp. 152, 153), containing a note by Prof. Sundevall on 

 Parus caudatus, L., I am reminded that I had still to write to 

 you concerning that species, particularly with reference to Mr. 

 Sharpe's previous communication (Ibis, 1868, pp. 295-302). 

 I regret that he has been led into error by Mr. Keulemans's 

 information, to the effect that the Long-tailed Titmouse seldom 

 breeds in Holland, and only abounds in this country from 

 October to March. Every Dutch ornithologist who has made 

 observations for himself in the country knows that this bird is 

 very common here even in the breeding-season, particularly in 

 the woods along the dunes. Like others of the same group, it 

 does not undertake long migrations, but leaves its breeding- 

 haunts in autumn to approach human dwellings, and even pene- 

 trates to the interior of towns. Nor can I agree with Mr. 

 Sharpe as to the specific distinctness of the British and the 

 Continental Long-tailed Titmouse, which I am more inclined to 

 regard as local varieties of the same species. Individuals indi- 

 genous to each part of Eui'ope, if compared, would form a series 

 of modifications of the same type, the English and Scandinavian 

 birds being the most extreme forms. According to French 

 authors, such as Degland and Gerbe (Orn. Eur. 2me ed. i. p. 

 571), and Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye (Rich. Orn. 

 Mid. Fr. p. 186) the Long-tailed Titmouse of their country differs 

 essentially from the northern one by never having a pure white 

 head, and accordingly would somewhat resemble the British 

 bird, the males only being distinguishable by the blackish and 

 reddish markings on the head and the absence of the dark band 

 over the eye, which always exists in both sexes of the British 



