THE LONG-TAILED TITS. 147 



segregation of the two forms. The specimens sent to the 

 British Museum by our friend Count von Berlepsch have the 

 other character of the true SE. caudatus^ viz., the whiter second, 

 aries, and there is nothing, therefore, to show that they are not 

 the immature birds of the northern race, ^i. caudatus. 



In Spain and the greater part of Italy a distinct species of 

 Long-tailed Tit, SE. irbii, occurs. How far this form extends 

 into France has never yet been determined, but that it occurs 

 in that country is shown by a specimen which we ourselves 

 shot at Mongeron (Seine-et-Oise), not far from Paris. 



The members of the genus sEgifhalus do not breed in holes, 

 but make a moss nest in the open, and in this feature the 

 genus ALgithaliscus follows suit. 



THE LONG-TAILED TIT. ^EGITHALUS VAGANS. 



Mecistura vagans, Leach, Cat. Mamm, &c., Brit. Mus., p. 17 



(1816). 

 Mecistura rasea, Blyths ed. White's Nat. Hist. Selborne, p. 1 1 1 



(1836). 



Mecistura longicaudata, Macg., Br. B., ii., p. 454 (1839). 

 Acredula caudata (nee. Linn.), Newt. ed. Yarn, Br. B., i , p. 504 



(1874); Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B., pt. iv. (1887); Saun- 



ders, Man., p. 93 (1889). 

 Acredula rosea, Sharpe, Ibis, 1868, p. 300; Dresser, B. Eur., 



iii., p. 63, pi. 103 (1872); B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 25 



(1883); Gadow, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., viii., p. 61 (1883); 



Wyatt, Brit. B., pi. 7 (1894). 



Adult Male General colour black and rose-colour above, the 

 hind-neck and mantle being glossy black ; the scapulars, lower 

 back, and rump rosy, always more or less mottled with the 

 blackish bases to the feathers ; upper wing- and tail-coverts 

 black ; quills black, the inner secondaries rather broadly edged 

 with white; tail-feathers black, the three outer ones white along 

 the outer web and diagonally across the tip, the white increasing 

 towards the outermost; crown of head dull white; lores and a 

 broad eyebrow black, extending in a band along the side of the 

 crown ; feathers round the eye purer white ; ear-coverts, cheeks, 

 and throat, ashy-white, with some blackish streaks on the fore- 

 neck ; remainder of under surface of body light rosy, the under 



L 2 



