Birds of the Canary Islands. 433 



decided me in choosing what proved to be an excellent spot. 

 This Tit, which in habits resembles Parus palmensis, lives 

 apparently only in the pine-forest, occasionally wandering into 

 the tree-heath ; it has the voice of Parus tenerifa, and also 

 the style of that form, not standing so high on its legs, nor 

 in the knock-kneed manner of the Palma Tit. It is the 

 largest and strongest of all the Canarian Tits, and differs in 

 having the whole of its back of a fine olive-green instead of 

 blue, there being only a band of light blue at the back of 

 the neck ; the yellow of the breast is very rich in colour, and 

 there is never a trace of white; the black line is very indis- 

 tinct. It is quite a common bird in the pine-forest, and I 

 had no trouble in procuring as many specimens as I wanted. 

 I have described this bird as a new species, and named it 

 Parus ombriosus, after " Ombrios/' King Juba's name for 

 the island of Hierro. 



Parus ombriosus. (Plate XIII.) 



Parus ombriosus, Meade- Waldo, Ann. Mag. N. H. ser. 6, 

 v. p. 103. 



Parus tenerifa similis, sed fortior et robustior : tergo toto 

 oliyaceo-viridescente nee cseruleo : tectricibus alarum 

 viridibus,majoribus angustissime albo terminatis : subtus 

 citrinus, P. tenerifa similis. Femina haud a mari dis- 

 tinguenda. 



This Tit adds a fourth to the number of forms found in 

 the Canary Islands, three of which are quite peculiar to the 

 archipelago, and two are peculiar to their own islands. Fuer- 

 teventura and Lanzarote have Parus ultramarinm, almost 

 indistinguishable from the mainland bird. Grand Canary, 

 Tenerife, and Gomera have Parus tenerifa, easily known 

 from P. ultramarinus by its brighter colouring and in never 

 having white-tipped wing-coverts. The island of Palma 

 has Parus palmensis, distinguished by having its under- 

 pays white instead of yellow, the wing-coverts slightly tipped 

 with white, and the tail and tarsi longer. It has also a 

 differently pitched voice, which can be distinguished at once 

 from the other Tits, and its more slender form and different 

 style show it at once to belong to a different race. Besides it 

 is confined to the pine-forest, only occasionally coming into 



