PARUS. 189 



across the wing ; inner secondaries, broadly margined and tipped with white ; 

 tail black, the outermost feathers almost entirely white, the next pair white on 

 the outer web only and the third with the outer web white at the base and tip 

 only. Bill black ; legs and feet plumbeous ; iris red brown. 



Length. 4-5 to 5 inches; wing 2' 3 to 2-5; tail 2; tarsus 07; cul- 

 men 0*42. 



Hab. Table land of the Indian peninsula. Recorded from Koochamun 

 from the eastern ghauts west of Nellore, and from Bangalore in Mysore 

 territory. 



679. Parus semodiUS, Hodgs.,J. A. S. B. xiii. p. 943 (1844); 

 Jerd., B. Ind. ii, p. 276, No. 642 ; Swinh., Ibis, 1870, p. 155 ; Blanf., J . A. 

 S. B. 1872, ii. p. 57 ; Brooks, Sir. F. 1879, p. 487 ; Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. 

 viii. p. 41. The HIMALAYAN COLE-TIT. 



Crown of head and hind neck glossy black ; a large patch of white on the 

 occiput and nape ; cheeks, ear coverts and sides of neck white ; chin and 

 throat dull black, descending on to the upper breast and laterally towards the 

 sides ; centre of breast dull white ; mantle, back and rump slaty blue ; wing 

 coverts the same, but spotted with white ; quills greyish black, margined with 

 silvery grey ; the secondaries narrowly tipped with white ; under surface of 

 the body pale buff or fawn colour ; under tail coverts fawn-coloured ; tail 

 greyish black. Bill dark brown ; feet plumbeous ; iris brown. 



Length. 4*2 inches j wing 2- 2 to 2-4; tail 17 to r8j tarsus 0^65 cul- 

 men 0-4. 



Hab. The Himalayas (Nepaul and Sikkim). .1 have preferred to give this 

 Himalayan representative of the British Cole-Tit, the name under which it was 

 described by Hodgson, the slender bill and other characters given of it, 

 I consider sufficient to give it specific rank ; though otherwise P. ater and 

 P. Brittanicus do not differ much from it. 



GROUP. ACCENTORES. 



Bill straight, somewhat conic, high at the base, entire or slightly notched at 

 the tip ; nostrils exposed ; wings moderate, more or less rounded ; tail mode- 

 rate or short ; legs and feet stout. 



The Accentores are chiefly terrestrial, but their feet are also adapted for 

 climbing on rocks. They nidificate in bushes, and on the ground. In habits 

 they may be said to be sedentary, and are seldom met with, except either in 

 pairs, solitary, or in small parties of 4 5, and may be said to have their life- 

 habits between those of a Tit and a Finch, less however like the latter. The 

 group has been a puzzle to the systematist for ever so long. Its place in 

 the Order Passeriformes has not been so easy to define, and even at the present 



