492 BRITISH BIRDS. 



PANURUS BIARMICUS. 



BEARDED TIT. 



(PLATE 12.) 



Parus barbatus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 567 (1760). 



Parus biarmicus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 342 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



(Degland), (Gerbe), Naumann, Temminck,(Gray), (Neivton), (Dresser), &c. 

 Calamophilus biarmicus (Linn.}, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. fyc. Brit. Mus. p. 17 



(1816). 



Panurus biarmicus (Linn.}, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. p. 202 (1816). 

 Mystacinus biarmicus (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 556. 

 ^Egytbalus biarmicus (Linn), Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 975. 

 Calamophilus barbatus (Briss.}, Keys. u. Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. xliii (1840). 

 Paroides biarmicus (Linn.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 193 (1847). 

 Panurus barbatus (Briss), Saunders, Ibis, 1871, p. 208. 



The Bearded Tit is not yet extinct in this country, though it seems to 

 be in a fair way to become so, in consequence of the drainage of its 

 favourite marshes, of occasional severe winters, and of the incessant perse- 

 cution to which it is subjected by reed-men in the commission of bird- 

 fanciers and egg-collectors. It is still found in the fen-districts of Norfolk, 

 in Devonshire, and more or less accidentally in some of the intervening 

 country, and the south-east counties of England. Formerly its range 

 extended more to the north ; but it is doubtful whether it has ever been 

 obtained in Scotland or Ireland, or even Wales. 



On the continent the range of the Bearded Tit is an extensive one ; but 

 it has not been recorded south of the Mediterranean or north of Pomerania. 

 In the latter country and in Holland and Hungary the Bearded Tit is a 

 summer visitor. In Germany and France it is principally known as passing 

 through in spring and autumn ; but in Spain, Italy, and Sicily it appears 

 to be a resident. In Greece and Asia Minor it is said to be extremely 

 rare, its place being apparently taken by the Penduline Tit. Eastwards it 

 is much more common. It is resident in many suitable localities in South 

 Russia for example, at Sarepta ; it is extremely common in the delta of 

 the Volga, and is also a resident in the delta of the Terek, as well as in 

 Turkestan. Finsch obtained it in the swamps of the Kara Irtish, south 

 of Lake Zaisan, on the borders of Chinese Tartary ; and Prjevalsky found it 

 in North-eastern Thibet. Like other members of the subfamily of Parinae, 

 it is not to be wondered at that, in a range extending from Spain to Thibet, 

 it shows considerable local variations of colouring. British examples are 



