104 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Kohlmeise (Pariis major). 



is somewliat like our native grackles or crow blackbirds, but seems 



to resemble the sparrow in its familiarity and partiality for human 



habitations. It was introduced more than thirty-five years ago into 



Mauritius to destroy 

 gras.shoppers, and is 

 said to have become 

 perfectly naturalized 

 there. ^ It has also 

 been introduced into 

 the Andaman Islands 

 (some time prior to 

 1873), the Hawaiian 

 Islands, New Zea- 

 land, and possibly 

 Australia. 



It is said to have 

 reached the Hawai- 

 ian Islands by way of 

 China. Dr. Finsch, 

 an eminentornitholo- 



gist, who visited Honolulu iu 1879, found it very abundant, and de- 

 scribes its habits as follows : 

 The mainas are a great nuisance to the inhabitants, as they drive away the 



pigeons and fowls, and are said to destroy the nests and eggs of the domestic 



birds. That they do drive ont the 



pigeons from their houses, I observed 



many times myself. * * * In Mr. 



Earning "s garden, where the finest 



trees, chiefly p;ilm, aboimd, hundreds 



and thousands come to roost, and 



their inharmonious concert lasts from 



6 in the evening for an hour or more. 



The same is the case at daybreak, a 



little after 5 o'clock. ■' 



THE KOHLMEISE, OK (iREAT TITMOUSE. 



"Kohlmeise" is the German 

 luime of the great titmouse of 

 Europe {Parus inajor), and this 

 designation is used to some ex- 

 tent in the United States. The 

 kohlmeise (tig. o) is common over 

 the whole of P^urope as far north 

 as the Arctic Circle and also in Siberia. It is a handsome species, 

 about the size of the common eastern chickadee {Parus (ifricapilhis, 

 fig. ()), but nuiy be readily distinguished from any American titmouse 

 by the dull yellow on the sides of the body and the broad black stripe 





Fig. 6.— Chickadee (Parus atricapilhis). 



Jerdon. Birds of India, II. IsC.:!, \<. ;i2(>. 



•^Ibis, ISSO, pp. 77,78. 



