Genus PARUS. 
Parus, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 341 (1766). 
Pecile apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 114 (1829). 
Cyanistes apud Kaup, op. cit. p. 99. 
Penthestes apud Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat. pl. Ixii. (1850). 
Poikilis apud Blasius, List of B. of Eur. p. 8 (1862). 
Tue Titmice form a very distinct group, inhabiting the Palearctic, Oriental, the northern portion 
of the Ethiopian, the Nearctic, and the northern portion of the Neotropical Regions. Twelve 
species are found in the Western Palearctic Region, all of which are residents or partial 
migrants. They inhabit woods, groves, and well-wooded cultivated places, are extremely active 
and lively in their movements, searching for their food amongst the foliage, clinging to the 
twigs often with the head downward. ‘They feed chiefly on insects, but also on seeds, and on 
suet and fatty substances thrown out from houses. Their flight is rapid and undulating; and 
they have a very poor song, but utter a loud call-note. They place their nests in holes, and 
make a bulky structure of mosses, grass, &c., lined with feathers, and lay numerous whitish eggs 
spotted with brownish or red dots and small blotches. 
Parus major, the type of the genus, has the bill stout, rather short, straight, somewhat 
conical, the upper mandible slightly curved towards the tip; nostrils basal, small, round, con- 
cealed by reversed bristly feathers; gape with a few short weak bristles; wings short, concave, 
rounded, first quill short, the second about equal to the ninth; tail rather long, narrow, very 
slightly emarginate; tarsus moderate, covered in front with four plates and three inferior 
scutelle ; feet strong, claws long, strong, and curved, laterally grooved, and tapering to an acute 
point; plumage soft, lax, and blended. 
The present genus has been subdivided, but, as it appears to me, without valid reason—the 
Blue Titmice having been separated under the generic title Cyanistes, and the Marsh-Titmice 
under the title of Pecile; but, after a careful examination of the various species, I have decided 
to include both these groups in the present genus. 
Ag) 
ia 
