494 PARIDjE. 



rump * ; upper tail-coverts greenish fawn-colour ; the upper 

 wing-coverts broadly tipped with dull white, forming two con- 

 spicuous lines of spots across the wings ; quills blackish- 

 grey, edged with greenish-grey ; the tertials tipped with dull 

 white ; the chin and throat, black, which extends upwards 

 towards the sides of the neck, but not so far as to meet the 

 black bands before mentioned ; breast dull white, passing into 

 pale fawn-colour on the belly, flanks and lower tail-coverts ; 

 quills beneath, shining grey ; those of the wings edged in- 

 wardly with white near the base : legs, toes and claws, dark 

 leaden-grey. 



The whole length is four inches and a quarter. From the 

 carpal joint to the tip of the wing two inches and three- 

 eighths ; the third and fifth primaries equal in length, and 

 shorter than the fourth which is the longest in the wing. 



Females are more dull in colour ; the young have no gloss 

 on the head, the white is perceptibly tinged with dusky- 

 yellow, especially on the cheeks, and the greenish edges of 

 the quills are more conspicuous. 



In continental examples of P. ater the mantle is of a clear 

 bluish-grey, the lower part of the back is tinged with green, 

 and the upper tail-coverts alone are fawn-colour ; the edges of 

 the quills also have a perceptibly bluish tinge. 



This bird is at once distinguished from the Marsh-Titmouse 

 by the white patch on the nape and by the white spots on 

 the wing-coverts, which are always present, neither being 

 found in the Marsh- Titmouse at any age. Both these 

 species have been needlessly removed by Kaup to a genus 

 P aecile. 



The vignette represents the sternum of the Great Titmouse. 



* Macgillivray says that when the plumage is new all the feathers of the back 

 are tinged at the tip with brownish -yellow, but when worn that part is bluish- 

 grey. In winter also the black feathers of the throat are tipped with white. 



