380 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



" But in a comparison of specimens care must be taken to have 

 the true Scandinavian species, and not the sombre English sub- 

 species" (p. 105). "Compared with the true P. palustris of 

 Sweden, our English Marsh Titmouse is a very much darker 

 bird, and has the head slightly browner and less glossy. As, 

 however, there are many continental specimens which, in their 

 winter dress, a'pproach British examples, we feel that it would not 

 be advisable to bestow a specific name on our insular form, as 

 the distinctions are not so clearly characterised as in the Coal 

 Titmice. That our island bird, however, is constantly darker is 

 apparent on comparison of a series of specimens from Great 

 Britain and the Continent. Capt. R. G. Wardlaw Ramsay has 

 kindly sent us some Scotch specimens which exactly agree with 

 English birds" (p. 109) [italics mine). Professor Newton's remark 

 (Yarrell, Brit. Birds, 4 ed., i., p. 497) is much to the same effect, 

 and so are those of Mr. Seebohm (' British Birds' Eggs,' i., 

 pp. 476, 477). The latter gentleman thinks that the amount of 

 brown is not sufficiently great to warrant the separation of the 

 British bird from the continental one, notwithstanding the fact 

 that he himself has described as a "variety" P. japonicus, and 

 recognised as deserving of a separate (though varietal) name 

 "forms" like P. brevirostris and P. haicalensis. 



From the series which I have now before me, I see no 

 difference between the present case and that of P. britannicus, 

 neither in the quality nor in the quantity of the additional 

 colouring matter of the British forms. The Coal Tit is con- 

 siderably more bluish in the grey, and consequently the suffusion 

 of buff in P. britannicus causes the back to look more olive. 

 Intermediate forms occur in both. Very well ! Therefore we 

 give them trinomials, calling one P. ater britannicus, the other 

 P. palustris dresseri. I am quite unable to appreciate the 

 consistency or logic of recognising the former and rejecting 

 the latter. 



In addition to the difference in colour, it appears to me 

 that P. dresseri has a shorter tail than true P. palustris, as 

 I have found the longest tail-feathers in the former averaging 

 49 mm., against 53 mm. in the latter, while the other dimensions 

 seem to be nearly the same. 



In default of a better place, I wish to correct here a quotation 

 in the synonymy of P. borealls as given by Sliarpe and Dresser 



