PARUS. 



Length. 6'$ inches; wing 3-5$; tail 2-3; tarsus 1-05 ;; culmen 0-85. 



The adult female has the back ochraceous brown, the slaty head of the male 

 is much paler ; the band round the head chocolate brown ; the back and 

 scapulars reddish brown with large ovate spots of black ; ear coverts brown. 

 Length 7 inches ; wing 3*4; tail 2*4; tarsus 1*05. 



IIab. Himalayas to Bhootan and the Dafla hills in Assam, extending into 

 Karennee, Jerdon found it common near Darjeeling and at Sikkim, frequent- 

 ing large trees in small flocks. 



Family. 



Tarsus generally short or moderate ; feet fitted for perching ; wings and 

 tail moderate ; bill various, strong, somewhat conic; plumage variegated. All 

 are arboreal in their habits. 



Sub-Family. PARING. 



Bill typically rather short, less than the head in length, somewhat conic, 

 stout, and without a notch ; nostrils lateral or basal, the nares tufted ; wings 

 moderate, rounded, 3rd to 5th primaries longest, the first very short ; tail 

 varying in length and shape, long in a few only; tarsi and feet short and 

 stout ; hind toe long ; claws curved ; plumage soft, woolly and lax. In colour 

 they are mostly sober compared with the LiotrichincB ; the principal colours 

 however are white, black, yellow and blue ; crown of the head generally 

 crested. All the species are non-migratory, and are chiefly confined to the 

 Himalayas ; a few only extend to the hill regions of Central and Southern 

 India. In their habits they are strictly arboreal, actively climbing about and 

 clinging to the twigs and flowering branches of trees and continually flitting from 

 spray to spray, and suspending themselves in all kinds of attitudes. They are 

 noted for the peculiarly elegant construction of their nests, which are composed 

 of the softest materials ; and many of them are fastened to the extreme end 

 of a small branch that projects over water ; they also nidificate in holes of 

 trees or even in walls, and occasionally on the ground. A few build pendulous 

 nests. Their principal food consists of insects, which they find in the opening 

 buds or in flower cups, but they also feed on seeds and fruits. They are 

 indefatigably industrious. 



Gen. ParUS. Lin. 



Bill short, subulate, more or less conical, blunt at tip and without a notch ; 

 nostrils round, hidden by recumbent frontal feathers ; tail rounded or square ; 

 tarsus scutate ; head often crested. The well-known genera, Lophophanes, 

 Cyanistes, Melanochlora, and Machlolophus, have all, at the hands of Dr. 

 Gadow, become synonyms of Parus. 



PLATE at p. 152. 



