33G Mr. H. F. Witherby on a Collecting [This, 



Par us major major L. 



Grocat Tits were common. The characters used in separating 

 some o£ the European forms o£ Great Tit are so variable 

 individually as to make the distinctions of race of very little 

 value. The series we obtained match typical birds exactly 

 in coloration, while those from Portugal and south Spain 

 are slightly darker and duller. The white wedge on the 

 inner web of the outer tail-feathers is in most of the speci- 

 mens large as in P. m. major, but in two or throe examples 

 it is restricted. In Portuguese birds about two-thirds have 

 this wedge much restricted. The bills measure 11-12*5 mm., 

 most being slightly longer than they are in the typical form 

 and of exactly the same size as Portuguese and south 

 Spanish birds. These difEerences, however, are slight and 

 variable, and I think Portuguese and Spanish Great Tits 

 should all be called P. major major. 



Parus caeruleus caeruleus L. 



Blue Tits wore not very common at Riafio, l)ut were more 

 plentiful at Potes and Panes. The series Ave obtained were 

 of the typical form and very distinct from the smaller, darker, 

 and more brilliant P. c. liarterti, which inhabits Portugal 

 southwards to Algeciras. 



Parus ater vieirze Nicholson. 



While the Nuthatch, Blue Tit, and Crested Tit were 

 unlike the forms found in Portugal, the Coal-Tit was of 

 this distinct Portuguese subspecies. Curiously enough we 

 found the bird only at Riano. At Potes and Panes we saw 

 none. One cannot, of course, be certain that it was absent 

 from these localities, as all birds, oven the Tits, were very 

 silent, but should subsequent observations show that there 

 really is a gap hereabouts in the distribution of the Coal-Tit, 

 a very interesting point will be established, as the form 

 found in the Pyrenees, even on the Spanish side, is 

 P. a. ater. (Irby states that Lilford once observed a 

 Coal-Tit near Santander.) 



P, a. vieirce is somewhat like P, a. hritannicus, but the 



