308 PARIDJE PARUS 



viii, p. 7 (1883) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 331, 835 (1884) ; 

 Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 9 (1896). 



Parus leucopterus, Sivains. Classif. B. ii. p. 246 (1837) ; Layard, B. 8. 

 Afr. p. 113 (1867). 



Description. Adult male. General colour, above and below, 

 glossy blue-black, tinged with brown on the abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts, the latter edged with white ; least and middle wing- 

 coverts white with their bases black ; greater coverts black broadly 

 edged and tipped with white ; quills black edged externally with 

 white ; tail-feathers black tipped with white, the outer web of the 

 outermost white ; under wing-coverts white. 



Iris dark hazel ; bill black ; legs and feet lead-grey. 



Length 5-80; wing 3-15; tail 2-75; tarsus 0-80; culmen 0-45. 



Adult female. Less glossy than the male ; below dark lead- 

 grey ; wing-coverts and quills with narrower white edgings. 



Distribution. Eastern Cape Colony and Natal, where it is 

 fairly common in all the forest districts, ranging into Portuguese 

 East Africa and the Transvaal and extending northward and west- 

 ward through Mashona and Matabili Lands to Lake Ngami, the 

 Okavango Eiver, Damara Land and Benguela. 



Habits. Everywhere confined to the bush and forest districts 

 and preferring the larger growth of trees as a hunting ground. 

 In the Natal bush it is a common bird, and is constantly met 

 with in small bands of five or six individuals busily hunting about 

 the tree-tops for insects. Its contrasting colours of black and 

 white render it rather a conspicuous bird, and it frequently attracts 

 attention by its harsh call-note. Mr. Ayres found a nest near 

 Pinetown in Natal, containing one egg and four callow young. 

 " The old bird had evidently taken possession of a deserted Wood- 

 pecker's nest. The hole was in a perpendicular and decayed 

 bough of a large tree, about twenty feet from the ground ; it was 

 about a foot in depth, and there was a little fine grass at the 

 bottom, on which the egg and young birds were placed." 



Eggs of this Tit are white sparingly spotted with pale red, and 

 measure 0'67 x 0-53. 



180. Parus niger xanthostomus. Zambesi Black Tit. 



Parus xanthostomus, Shelley, Bull. B. 0. Club, 1892, i, p. vi; id. Ibis, 

 1893, pp. 17, 118. 



Description. Similar to Parus niger, but differs in the upper 

 parts being dusky black, with a green instead of a blue gloss on the 



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