THE MARSH-TIT. 141 



are also more rufescent or buff. On these characters only 

 can the British race be recognised, and we find some French 

 examples exhibiting a similar tendency to dark coloration. 



Range in Great Britain. Generally distributed, and even com- 

 mon in some counties of England. In Scotland it becomes 

 very local in its distribution, but, according to Mr. William 

 Evans, it breeds as far as Dunipace, near Stirling, where Mr. 

 Harvie Brown has pointed out to us the portion of his estate fre- 

 quented by the species. In Ireland the only counties where 

 it is met with are Antrim, Kildare, and Dublin. 



Kange outside the British Islands. Parus palustris is generally 

 distributed in South and South-western Europe, but is decidedly- 

 rare in the Mediterranean countries, though it occurs as far 

 eastward as Greece and Asia Minor. In Scandinavia north- 

 ward of about 61 N. lat, as far as the Arctic Circle, and in 

 North-west Russia, according to Mr. Seebohm, is found the 

 Alpine form, Icarus borealis, which is also noticed in equally 

 high latitudes in Switzerland. Mr. Trevor Battye says that in 

 Sweden, where both species occur, the two birds have perfectly 

 different notes and habits. From North-eastern Russia and 

 across Siberia to China and Japan, there are other races which 

 have been recognised by modern ornithologists, and certainly 

 some of these are not more worthy of recognition than the 

 English race, which has been called P. dresseri. 



Habits. The name of " Marsh "-Tit is by no means an ap- 

 posite designation of this bird, for it is not a marsh-haunting 

 species any more than the other British Tits, and we have 

 found it often far away from any water, in the midst of the 

 woodlands, consorting with other species of Tits, Creepers, and 

 Nuthatches. Although we cannot say that we have ever seen it 

 in the suburbs of London, like the Coal-Tit, it frequents every 

 kind of locality in the country, and is seen in gardens, in the 

 undergrowth of woods, or in bushes which fringe the country 

 lanes. It seems to be somewhat of a migratory bird, as it ap- 

 pears on the east coast in autumn, and it is one of the Tits 

 which passes over Heligoland. 



The food of the Marsh-Tit consists principally of insects, but 

 it is, like the other members of the family, really omnivorous, 

 and in parts of the country where the bird is common it can be 



