37 [Vol. xxvii. 



1)elly, also the dear cinnamon-coloured sides, flanks, and 

 upper tail-coverts, rendered P. hibernicus distinguishable at 

 a glance from P. britannicus. 



Through the kindness of Dr. Scharff he had been able to 

 examine five examples of the Irish Titmouse, preserved in 

 the National Museum of Ireland. Orie of these, a fiue male 

 example from Athlone, had been obtained as lung ago as 

 I\Iay 1865 ! 



The species might be characterized asi follows : — 



Parus hibernicus, sp. n. 



Adult male. Differs from the male of P. britaniiicus, 

 Sharpe & Dresser, in having the light patches covering the 

 sides of the head and neck, as well as the occipital spot, pale 

 mustard-yellow, the back olive-grey washed with yellowish- 

 cinnamon, the upper tail-coverts cinnamon, in marked 

 contrast with the rest of the upperparts, the breast and 

 belly whitish, washed with mustard-yellow, and the sides 

 and flanks cinnamon. Iris dark hazel; bill black; legs 

 bluish-slate-colour. 



Total length ca. 43 inches ; wing 2"45 ; tail 1"9 ; tarsus 

 0-75. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male, but smaller. 

 Wing 2"2 inches. 



Hab. Ireland. 



Obs. In freshly killed examples the mustard-yellow colour 

 of the light patches on the sides of the head, occiput, and 

 underparts was very bright and conspicuous, but the colour 

 faded considerably a few days after death. 



There could be no doubt that the British Coal-Titmouse 

 also occurred commonly in one locality at least in the north- 

 east of Ireland, for Mr. Ogilvie-Grant had himself obtained 

 a number of specimens at Clandeboye, Co. Down, in January 

 1904. These differed in no way from examples of P. bri- 

 tannicus from England and Scotland. He ^as not aware 

 whether these birds bred in Co. Down, or were merely 

 winter-migrants from the opposite coast of Great Britain. 

 Nothing more was known of the distribution of these two 

 species of Coal-Titmice in Ireland, as very few Irish birds 

 were at present available for comparison. 



