174 MARSH TITMOUSE. 



the latter nearly joining with the black of the 

 nape, and enclosing an irregular patch of white 

 on the sides of the neck and cheeks ; on the nape 

 a spot or patch of white. Back and scapulars 

 greenish gray, tinged on the rump with yellowish ; 

 wings and tail gray, the inner webs of the feathers 

 of the latter hair brown ; the covers tipped with 

 ash gray ; the under parts grayish white, tinted 

 with yellowish on the flanks ; plumage of the 

 female very nearly similar. Length about four 

 inches. 



THE MARSH TITMOUSE PARUS PALUSTRIS, 

 Will. Linn. Parus palustris. Will. Linn. 

 La Nonnette Cendree, Buff. Marsh Titmouse, 

 or Tit of British Authors. This bird is un- 

 doubtedly the most unfrequently met with of 

 those species which have been, generally speak- 

 ing, accounted common. In the district where 

 we have been for many years attending to 

 ornithology, it has decreased, and is at present a 

 rare bird, an occurrence which we cannot satis- 

 factorily account for, as its former localities have 

 not been so much changed in character as to 

 drive them entirely away. Our modern British 

 ornithologists all agree in considering the Marsh 

 Titmouse as less abundant than any of the pre- 

 ceding species. The common call-note is so 

 peculiar that it can never be mistaken, and its 

 unfrequency cannot be attributed to its being 

 confounded from similarity of appearance with 



