PARID.E. 71 



PARID.E. 



54. Acredula irbii, Sharpe and Dresser. The Spanish Long- 



tailed Tit. 



Spanish. Mito. 



This little bird, a climatic race of our British A. caudata (or, as 

 separatists have it, rosea), is only to be found around Gibraltar in 

 the Cork-wood of Almoraima, chiefly keeping to the sotos and to 

 the district round the Mill, the Long Stables, and the second 

 venta. Similar in its habits to the British form, the nest and 

 eggs are also exactly the same as those of that bird. I found the 

 young able to fly by the middle of April, and on the 12th of that 

 month found a nest with seven young fully fledged ; this would 

 make the date of laying about the 20th of February. The nests, 

 without exception, were all built in the thorny creeper, a species 

 of Smilax, called Zarzaparilla by the Spaniards, which forms 

 regular net- or lattice-work walls from the ground to the lower 

 branches of the trees, and are usually placed about 15-16 feet 

 from the ground and very difficult to get at, the only way being 

 either to cut or shoot away the creepers above them often no 

 easy matter. The only eggs obtained were addled ones, left in 

 nests from which the young had flown. 



The adults differ from the British and North-European races in having 

 the entire back bluish grey. 



Crown black, with whitish stripe along the centre. Length 5^ inches, 

 tail 3| inches. 



55. Parus major, Linnseus. The Great Tit. 



Spanish. Quive-vive, Carpintero, Carbonero, Cerrajero, Guer- 

 rero. 



Favier considers this species to be extremely scarce near 

 Tangier, but specimens have been obtained there in winter, and 

 Mr. Meade-Waldo saw plenty on the 27th of February, 1892. 



