I'lIKLIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 181 



BRITISH BLUE-TIT [Panu canto** obscwnu Praiak. Tom-tit, 

 blue-cap, billy-biter, pickcheese, maup]. 



i. Description. The small sice of this bird, the blue and green of the upper, 

 and the yellow of the under part* will suffice at once to distinguish it from all other 

 British birds. The sexes are alike, and there is no seasonal change of coloration. 

 (PI. 64.) Length 4*3 in. [1 10 mm.]. The crown is of a cobalt blue darkening from be- 

 fore backwards, and encircled by a narrow band of white, starting from the forehead, 

 and faintly tinged blue. The lores are black, and a similar but very narrow black 

 line runs backwards from the eye to join a broad band of dark ultramarine blue, 

 which, starting on the nape runs downwards behind, and beneath the ear-covert* to 

 join a bluish-black patch on the throat, thus encircling the ear-coverts and cheeks 

 which are white. The scapulars and interscapulars are of a rich green inclining to 

 yellow, and fading in the rump into pale yellowish green. The upper tail-coverts 

 and tail are ultramarine. The wing-coverts are also ultramarine, those of the 

 major series tipped white, forming a bar across the wing. The remiges MB of a 

 darker ultramarine than the coverts, especially on their inner webs, which are nearly 

 black ; the innermost secondaries are tipped with white. The fore-breast and flanks 

 are of a greenish lemon-yellow, while the mid-breast has a patch of dark ultramarine, 

 running downwards towards abdomen. Legs and toes bluish grey. The juvenile 

 plumage differs from that of the adult in having the upper parts olive-green and grey 

 in place of blue, the cheeks yellow in place of white, and the under parts wholly 

 yellow, lacking the black area on the breast, [w. p. p.] 



a. Distribution. Blue-tits are distributed over the greater part of the 

 Western Palearctic region, but are subject to considerable local variation and have 

 been divided into numerous sub-species. Our British form is confined to the British 

 Isles. In Great Britain it is very widely distributed and only becomes rare in 

 absolutely treeless districts and in the extreme north of Scotland, but has been 

 recorded as breeding in Sutherland and Caithness. It breeds in Skye and in some 

 of the wooded Inner Hebrides, but is absent from the Outer Hebrides, Orkneys, and 

 Shetlands as a breeding species. It also nests in the Isle of Man, and in Ireland is 

 very numerous and widely distributed, and has been found breeding in every county, 

 [p. c. B. J.] 



3. Migration. Our local race does not appear to be migratory. [A. i.. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nest is almost invariably placed in a small hole 

 of some sort, usually in a tree or wall, but also occasionally in all kinds of places, 



