NORTHERN TIT. 81 



proposes that the name should be erased. It will be observed, 

 however, in reference to the question of climate, which undoubtedly 

 has a strong influence in the coloration of birds, that the so-called 

 P. alpestris inhabits a lower zone of altitude than P. borealis. 



M. Fatio describes the female as very much resembling the autumn 

 plumage of the male, but that in spring the leg feathers are browner, 

 and that the tints of the upper parts are clearer, the black gorge 

 with more white bands, and the white on the cheeks being less pure. 



The young after they have left the nest have a more sombre plumage 

 than the adults, and the black on their heads and throat is less dark 

 black, and more restricted in space. 



The eggs of Parus borealis are, according to M. Fatio, rounder 

 than those of palustris, and as a matter of course their short diameter 

 is longer. 



Parus borealis inhabits in Switzerland the forests of firs, pines, and 

 larch trees; it travels in families, and you can easily recognise it by 

 its call, which at an elevation of eleven hundred is exactly the same 

 as it is at two thousand two hundred metres; it repeats, in fact, 

 always once or twice in a vigorous tone "tzi, kraee," or simply 

 "kraee," "kraee," making the ae grave and long. M. Fatio also 

 noticed the same note at two thousand two hundred metres which 

 Bailly attributed to alpestris. It breeds at eleven hundred metres 

 elevation the beginning of June, and at two thousand one hundred 

 metres about the end of that month. 



Salvadori ("Fauna d' Italia") writes of this bird: — "This species 

 differs from P. palustris by being rather larger, and the clear mar- 

 gins of the secondaries are more distinct than in the latter bird. 

 I have recently compared the two species together, having had three 

 P. borealis from the mountains of Bergamosio, from Switzerland, and 

 Sweden. This bird has been observed on the Alps, in Savoy, in 

 Switzerland, and in the Alps of Lombardy. It lives in pine groves, 

 and like other Tits congregates among the trees. It nests in the 

 holes of trees, the eggs being similar to those of palustris, but 

 according to Signor V. Fatio are rather smaller." 



The following are the measurements of my specimen of P. borealis, 

 as compared with Yarrell's of P. palustris, in inches: — P. borealis, 

 length four and nine tenths, carpus to tip two and three fifths, tail 

 two and two fifths, tarsus three fourths, beak from gape one half, beak 

 from forehead, five lines and a half. P. palustris, length four and a 

 half, carpus to tip two and three eighths. 



The late Mr. Wheelwright kindly sent me a nest containing nine 

 eggs. The nest is built of the under bark of the alder, and is loosely 



VOL. III. M 



