AZURE TITMOUSE. 39 



like the whetting of a saw ; which cease with in- 

 cubation : its flesh is very bitter : it will live about 

 five years, but is very seldom kept in confinement, 

 as its song is not sufficiently varied to please. 



Lewin mentions a curious variety of this bird, 

 in which the two mandibles of the beak crossed 

 each other like those of Crucirostra vulgaris : it 

 was taken near Feversham in Kent. 



AZURE TITMOUSE. 

 (Parus cyanus.) 



PA. dilute cccruleus subtus albus, uropygio et vertice cano-albidis, 



cervicis albce fascia lata, humeris tectricibusque caudce cceruleis. 

 Pale blue Titmouse, beneath white, with the rump and crown 



hoary white, with a band of that colour on the upper parts of 



the neck ; shoulders and tail-coverts blue. 

 Parus cyanus. Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1. 1007. Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 



563. 3. 



Parus sabyensis. GmeL Syst. Nat. 1. 1008. 

 La grosse mesange bleue. Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 5. 455. 

 Azure Titmouse. Penn. Arct. Zool. 2. 426. c. Lath. Gen. Syn. 



4. 538. 3. Lath. Syn. Sup. 18p. 3. 



THIS beautiful species was first described by 

 Aldrovandus : it is the size of P. major : beak 

 blue black ; the edges dirty white : forehead, 

 crown, and cheeks, white : from the beak to the 

 hind head, passing through the eye, is a blue 

 stripe, with a pale band beneath : from the breast 

 to the middle of the belly an irregular oblong blue 

 mark ; rest of the under parts white : wings 

 varied with white, lead-colour, and blue ; the first 



