364 Herr E. Hartert on the 



Parus cyanus^ Pall. 



On the 1st of January^ 1880^ when walking through the 

 wood close to the fortress of Pillau, I saw among a party of 

 Parus cceruleus, mixed with some other Tits, a specimen of 

 an entirely white and blue Titmouse, which could have been 

 nothing else but Parus cyanus. It being a holiday and shoot- 

 ing not being allowed, I rushed home and brought back with 

 me an almost noiseless little pistol, with which I could shoot 

 in spite of the many visitors who enjoyed the beautiful 

 afternoon in the wood. I met with the bird about 200 yards 

 from the previous spot and shot at it, but merely wounded 

 it and — lost it. This very sad record is the only evidence I 

 can give about this bird ; but, as it has occurred in Silesia and 

 in Poland, there is no reason why it should not straggle 

 occasionally into Prussia. 



SiTTA C^SIA HOMEYERI, Sccb. " • '^ > 



There is a good series of Nuthatches from East Prussia 

 in the late E. F. von Homeyer^s collection, which I collected 

 for him in various parts of the province to complete his 

 material for an intended but never-published article on this 

 group. 



The Nuthatches of East Prussia differ from those of other 

 parts of Germany, or I may rather say from the common 

 form of the Nuthatch of Central and Southern Europe and 

 England, in the much lighter, almost pure white, colour of 

 the breast, and approach the pale Sitta uralensis of Siberia 

 and Sitta europcea of Scandinavia. They may be regarded as 

 being more nearly allied to Sitta uralensis and Sitta europaea, 

 but sometimes assimilate to the Western Sitta casia. 



These differences have been noticed by me (/. c. no. 65), 

 but I did not venture to name this form. Taczanowski has 

 also described the coloration of the Sitta in Poland C^Ornis,^ 

 1888, p. 454). 



One of the skins that I had collected for Herr von 

 Homeyer came into the collection of Mr. Seebohm, who has 

 named it Sitta casia homey eri, a name that must stand for it, 

 as it is a tolerably well-marked subspecies. The distribution 



