PAM. PARIDAz 
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Characters, Habits, Nidification as those of the Subfamily. 
KEY TO THE SUBSPECIES OF PANURUS BIARMICUS 
1. Back and rump deeper, cinnamon-brown ; upper tail coverts faintly washed with 
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— Back and rump paler, more cinnamon-buff; upper tail coverts decidedly washed 
IUD (OU e a ele ee 8 bo 8 6 Go ep Be be 94 4 (Bo le’y HIVNRNICUS RUSSICUS, 
1. Panurus biarmicus biarmicus (Linneus). (PI. 2, Fig. 10.) 
Parus biarmicus Linnzeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 190 (1758) (« Habitat in Europa»; based on Albin, Avium, Vol. 1, 
p. 46, pl. 48, and Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, Vol. 2, p. 55. pl. 55. Albin’s figure is barely recognizable, while 
that of Edwards unquestionably refers to the dark-coloured western bird. Moreover, the latter author 
expressly states that the specimens described were brought alive from Copenhagen and adds having seen 
others « shot among the reeds in marshes near London »), 
Parus barbatus Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. Vol. 1, p. 549 (1827) (new name for P. biarmicus Linnzus). 
Mystacinus ayundinaceus Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Vog. Deutsch]. p. 474 (1831) (« bewohnt den Nordosten der alten 
Welt, wandert aber im Herbst und kommt dann an die Kiiste der deutschen Ostsee, haufig nach Holland, 
sogar, jedoch selten an den Wisleber und andere grosse Seen unseres Vaterlandes ». Pure hypothetical 
speculations, for the Bearded Tit never occured in any part of N. E. Europe; the birds said to have nested 
on the salt-lakes near Eisleben, Thuringia, most certainly belonged to the western race). 
Alystactnus dentatus Brehm, ibidem, p. 474 (1831) (Holland). 
Panurus biarmicus occidentalis Vschusi, Ornith. Jahrb. Vol. 15, p. 228 (1904) (Venetia). 
Fig. Dresser, Birds Europe, Vol. 3, pl. 102. 
Hab. South Europe (Italy, north to Venetia and Lombardy, Southern France, Eastern Spain); England 
(nowadays only breeding in Norfolk); Holland; formerly breeding in the marshes of Northern 
Germany as far east as Mecklenburg. It was probably this form that is reported to have nested on the 
salt-lake near Eisleben, Thuringia. 
2. Panurus biarmicus russicus (Brehm). 
Mystacinus Russicus Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Voy. Deutschl. p. 472 (1831) («sie lebt in Russland, kommt im Herbst 
und Winter nach Ungarn und in die Nahe von Wien »). 
Calamophilus sibiricus Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sc. Paris, Vol. 43, p. 414 (1856) (« Kamtchatka », locality 
erroneous). 
Panurus biaymicus vaddei Prazak, Journ. f. Ornith. Vol. 45, p. 288 (1897) (based on Radde [Ornis, Vol. 3, 1887, 
P- 477 : Astara near Lenkoran, Caspian Sea], who described a young bird as adult). 
Hab. Breeding in Eastern Europe (East Galicia, Hungary, Roumania, South Russia), Asia Minor, 
Persia, West Siberia, Turkestan (Zaidam, Kookonor, Ordos), Manchooria as far east as Sidemi, 
Amoor Bay, inS. E. Siberia, It is probably this form that appears in Greece during the winter months. 
6. SUBFAM. CERTHIPARINA= 
It is proposed to associate, in this group, the three New Zealand genera Mohoua, Certhi- 
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parus and Finschia, although I must confess that I have serious doubts as to whether they really 
have any close relations to the Paridac, and whether the last-named genus may not ultimately 
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prove to be altogether different from the two others. Yet the three species agree fer se in the 
exceedingly long, rather robust tarsus, a character which separates them at a glance from all 
the other members of the family of Tits. Mohoua, furthermore, differs very markedly in the 
proportions of the toes, while /inschia and Certhiparus resemble, in this respect, the true Tits. 
The last-named genus and Mo/oua, on the other hand, present another striking character in the 
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pointed rectrices with the shafts stiffened and acuminate, indicating arboreal habits, whereas 
