66 AZURE TIT. 



occui' further to the south or west. It has occurred, according to 

 Kyserbolling, in Denmark, and Dr. Sturm records its appearance at 

 Niirnberg. 



This bird was one of the interesting discoveries made by Dr. Hen- 

 derson, in the Expedition from Lahore to Yarkand, recently published, 

 and is thus recorded, p. 232: — "This beautiful little species was 

 common in August in the Tamarisk jungles on the banks of the 

 Arpalak, within fifteen miles of Yarkand. It had apparently been 

 recently breeding, as all the specimens obtained were young birds, 

 one of them being scarcely fully fledged." Mr. Allen Hume, who 

 edits the natural history portion of this work, expresses himself in 

 doubts whether he has correctly described the bird, and this because 

 "Degland and Bree both describe the lateral feathers of the tail as 

 tipped and margined with white?" 



My description taken from Degland, in the absence of a skin of 

 this rare bird, was substantially correct. The fact is that the under 

 central feathers of the tail would have responded to the description 

 better than the lateral ones. The extreme lateral feather is quite 

 white, sometimes but generally has a slate-coloured patch on base of 

 inner web. The second and third have half the inner webs blue, 

 while the others are blue, tipped and edged with white at their distal 

 extremities. The two central upper feathers are blue, tipped on their 

 outer web with white. 



In the beginning of autumn it migrates into warmer latitudes, as in 

 winter or early spring, an occasional pair, or single bird only, will be 

 found in the north-west. 



Naumann says that it does not appear to affect trees with pointed 

 leaves, like tbe fir or pine, preferring willow bushes in meadows by 

 the side of rivers and watery places. In winter they are found more 

 plentifully in the neighbourhood of houses, and come even into towns. 

 It is a lively, agile, and fearless bird, like the rest of its tribe, very 

 skilful in climbing, and is seen, like the Blue Tit, clinging to boughs 

 and branches. It is, however, readily distinguished from the other 

 allied Tits by its longer tail. 



Bechstein compares its call-note to that of the House Sparrow, but 

 it is softer. 



It lives on insects and their eggs, larvae, and pupa?, which it dili- 

 gently picks out from the open crevices of bark, and to get at which, 

 like the Blue Tit, it destroys many buds, blossoms, and leaves. It is 

 also fond of seeds and the kernels of nuts, upon which it may be 

 seen hammering with its beak, having carefully fixed the object in a 

 chink of the tree. 



