PARING. 45 



Iris brown ; bill yellow ; feet red (Blanford). 



Length about 16 ; tail 6*3 to 7'5 ; wing 1O3 to 11-5 ; tarsus 1-6 ; 

 bill 1-4. 



Distribution. The whole of the Himalayas from Kashmir to 

 Bhutan. This Chough appears to move locally according to season, 

 being found low down in winter and up to 15,000 feet or even 

 higher in summer. 



Habits, fyc. According to Stoliczka this species is very social, and 

 frequently visits the camp of the traveller in Spiti and Ladak ; it 

 is here quite as familiar and quite as noisy in the neighbourhood of 

 villages and camping-grounds as Corvus splendens throughout India. 



This bird breeds in holes of cliffs, but the finding of the nest has 

 not yet been recorded from Indian localities. 



Subfamily PARING. 



This subfamily contains the Tits, the affinities of which with the 

 Crows are recognized by all writers on ornithology. 



Some species of Tits, like the Crows, are found over a very large 

 portion of the surface of the globe. All the Indian species are 

 resident. 



The Parince bear a close resemblance to each other, the different 

 genera being characterized by the absence or presence of a crest 

 and the shape of the tail. 



The Tits live chiefly on insects, but they also eat seeds, and in 

 hard weather no sort of food comes amiss to them. They all lay 

 spotted eggs, but while some are content with a hole of a tree as a 

 nesting-place, others construct elaborate rounded structures in trees, 

 and the eggs in many cases are numerous. The young are con- 

 siderably paler than the adult, but the pattern of colour is well 

 preserved in all the species. 



The Tits have a short, conical and entire bill about one-third the 

 length of the head ; the rictal bristles are short, and the bristles 

 over the nostrils, though short, are very dense and straight. The 

 wing is rounded and weak, and the tarsus scutellated. 



In habits they are arboreal, seldom descending to the ground, 

 and they are in some degree gregarious, being found frequently in 

 parties of four or more. 



Key to the Genera. 



a. Head not crested. 

 a'. Tail rounded. 



a". Outer tail-feather falling short of tail- 

 tip by length of hind claw PARUS, p. 46. 



b". Outer tail-feather falling short of tail- 

 tip by length of hind toe and claw . . ^EGITHALISCUS, p. 50. 

 b'. Tail square or slightly forked SYLVIPARUS, p. 53. 



b. Head furnished with a full crest. 



c'. Tail rounded MACHLOLOPHUS, p. 54. 



d'. Tail square or slightly forked .......... LOPHOPHANES, p. 57, 



