GREAT TIT. 



467 



night ; and many dash against our lighthouses, attracted possibly by the 

 glare of the lamps. 



The Great Tit has the forehead, crown, sides of the neck, and throat 

 rich glossy black with a steel-blue lustre ; the cheeks, ear-coverts, and a 

 small patch on the nape are white ; the upper back is yellowish green, 

 gradually merging into bluish grey on the lower back and upper tail-coverts. 

 The wing-coverts are pale blue, the greater ones tipped with white, forming 

 a bar across the wing ; the primaries are dark brown, margined with greyish 

 white on the terminal half, and slate-grey on the basal half ; the secon- 

 daries are margined on the basal half of the outer web with yellow, whiter 

 on the terminal half; the tail is dull black washed with bluish grey, the 

 outside feather on each side white on the outer web and also on the inner 

 web at the tip ; the next feather tipped with white. The underparts below 

 the throat are bright greenish yellow, with a broad black line from the black 

 on the throat down to the vent ; the under tail-coverts are white varied 

 with black. Bill black ; legs and feet lead-grey ; irides dark brown. The 

 female very closely resembles the male in colour, but is not quite so bril- 

 liant, and the black line on the underparts is not so broad. Young birds 

 are duller in colour than their parents, and the white parts are yellowish. 

 The Great Tit may be distinguished from all the other British species by 

 its size (wing 2-9 inch), and by the broad streak of black on the underparts 

 from the chin to the vent. 



