PAULS. 47 



Parus nipnlensis, Jfod;/*. Intl. 7iYr. ls:{S, p. <51 Anders. Yunnan 

 Ri-/>('d., vhvx, ]>. ('-)i > ; Hume, Cat. no. (5-40; Biddulfth, Ibis, 1881, 

 p. 73; Barnes, Birds l><>m. p. ^48; ILuinc, >S. F. xi, p. 255. 



Parus caesius, Tick, fide Jerri. B. I. ii, p. i!78; 7/ww?, 2V. # 7 p. 405. 



Iiain-f/anyra, Beng. 



Coloration. Forehead, lores, crown, nape, chin, throat, breast, a 

 band on either side the neck connecting the nape with the breast, 

 and a band down the middle of the abdomen black ; cheeks and 

 ear-coverts white ; the upper part of the back next the black of the 

 nape white ; remainder of back, ramp, scapulars, and lesser and 

 median coverts ashy grey ; wiuglet and greater coverts black, 

 edged with ashy grey, and the latter broadly tipped white ; 

 quills dark brown, the earlier primaries and the tertiaries edged 

 white, the other quills with ashy grey ; upper tail-coverts deep 

 ashy blue ; tail black, the four median pairs of feathers edged with 

 ashy grey on the outer webs and all but the middle two pairs 

 tipped white ; fifth pair white, with the shaft black and a band of 

 black on the inner web ; outer pair nearly entirely white with a 

 black shaft ; sides of the breast and abdomen white tinged with 

 vinaceous ; under tail-coverts black in the centre, white at the sides. 



Bill black; iris brown; legs and feet plumbeous. 



Length about 5'5 ; tail 2' 6 ; wing 2- 6 ; tarsus -65 ; bill from 

 gape -5. 



The young have the upper plumage suffused with yellow and the 

 lower with buff, and are not readily separable from the young of 

 P. minor. 



Towards the East, in Burma and China, the amount of white on 

 the fifth pair of tail-feathers diminishes, and frequently the outer 

 web is almost entirely black. 



The middle pair of rectrices is occasionally blue, with black 

 shafts. I cannot discover that this peculiarity is due to any cause 

 or occurs in any distinct method, but it may indicate a race. The 

 character is neither sexual nor seasonal so far as the materials at 

 my disposal afford evidence. 



This and the next species have been generally supposed to inter- 

 breed in Southern China, and to have produced an intermediate 

 race, which has been named P. commixtus. I cannot discover 

 any grounds for the supposition that interbreeding of the two 

 species takes place. Every specimen from Southern China that I 

 have been able to examine is referable either to P. minor or to 

 P. atriceps. The former is found as far west as Karennee and the 

 Sal ween district of Tenasserim in a form almost as typical as 

 Japanese specimens, and the latter in Amoy as typical as Southern- 

 Indian birds or those from Java. 



In size both species are exactly similar, and they are only to be 

 separated by the coloration of the back and the tail. In P. minor 

 the back in newly-moulted birds is a clear yellowish green, and the 

 penultimate tail-feather on each side is entirely black with the 

 exception of a \\ hite tip ; in P. atriceps the back is ashy grey like 



