398 Mr. R. B. Sharpe on the Genus Acredula. 



as did also the birds procured by Schrenek in Upper and Lower 

 Amoorland. Radde likewise procured specimens during his 

 journey through the south of East Siberia, and observes that 

 they agreed exactly with those collected by Schrenek in Amoor- 

 land. The birds also which he obtained at Onon and Irkutsk are 

 precisely the same as the European bird, " which/^ says he, " is 

 very extraordinary; for from the Upper Ussuri we have received 

 through Herr Maxiniowicz a Titmouse which neither in the 

 marking of the head, nor in its proportions, agrees with Parus 

 trivirgatus of Temminck and Schlegel, but sufficiently so with 

 old Siberian Long-tailed Titmice". 



In Germany it also occurs ; and Mr. Harting has very kindly 

 given rae a specimen from that country. This is a male, pro- 

 cured in August 1863; and from the worn condition of the plu- 

 mage it is evident that it had not begun to moult. I mention 

 this because it is suggested by some that the white head is 

 only the winter dress of the Scandinavian bird. 



That the Parus caudatus of Linnaeus was founded upon this 

 persistently white-headed bird there can be, 1 think, no doubt ; 

 and when we consider the characters on which Motacilla yarrelli 

 is distinguished from M. alba, Pyrrhula coccinea from P. vulgaris, 

 Sitta casia from S. europcea, and Troglodytes horealis from T. 

 europceus, we cannot refuse to acknowledge the specific distinct- 

 ness of the British form, on which the name Mecistura rosea 

 was long ago bestowed by Mr. Blyth*. 



I wish to add here a word on the adoption of the generic 

 name Acredula, in preference to Mecistura and Orites. 



The propriety of separating the Long-tailed Titmice from the 

 true Pari was recognized as long ago as 1752 by Mohring; and 

 to this day his genus Orites is adopted by some authors. But 

 the excellent rules of zoological nomenclature adopted by the 

 British Association exclude all Mohring's genera ; and, as has 

 been pointed out (Ibis, 1865, p. 98), there is an inconvenience 

 in using the name Orites, since it has been proposed by Keyser- 

 ling and Blasius for a group of Fringillida. Ornithologists will, 



* White's " Natural History of Selborne. With Notes by Edward 

 Blyth. London: 1830," p. Ill, note. 



I 



