4 
It has been recorded by Lord Lilford as occasionally seen in Corfu in the winter; and 
Messrs. Elwes and Buckley saw specimens, procured near Constantinople, in Mr. Robson’s 
collection; Dresser also observed it on the Lower Danube during the winter. Dr. Radde writes 
that in the Crimea and Southern Russia it is found but rarely. 
It does not occur in Algeria or Northern Africa, so far as we can ascertain; and its most 
southern limit appears to be the Lebanon, where Canon Tristram found it very abundant at the 
cedar-groves, but not in the lower mountain-ranges. 
With regard to its range in Asia we give the following translations of the notes made by 
the Siberian travellers; but it will require further research to ascertain whether the Coal Titmouse 
of Eastern Siberia is the true P. ater, or whether P. pekinensis is a good species. We ourselves 
have been unable to procure a sufficient series of specimens from those localities to set the 
question at rest; but our friend Dr. Taczanowski assures us that specimens he has procured 
from there are certainly the true P. ater. Middendorff observed it in March and July at Udskoj 
Ostrog, and in August shot it on the island of Aeha. In the end of October he observed it in 
Mantchuria. Dr. von Schrenck found the Coal Titmouse abundant on the Lower Amoor, in the 
country which is covered with pine-, fir-, and larch-woods, and saw them in flocks almost daily at 
the Nikolajefsk post, in August, September, and October, frequenting conifer growth. Above 
the Nikolajefsk post he found it rarer as the conifer woods ceased, but still noticed it at 
Ssamahagdu Chome, Dshare, and in the Bureja Mountains; and Dr. Radde says that “ this 
Titmouse lived at an altitude of 7000 feet above the sea (Kamardaban, at the south-east corner 
of Lake Baikal), where it was observed hard at work at the cones of the stone-pines.” It is rarer 
on the Central Amoor, and he only now and then observed it in the Bureja Mountains. ‘The bill 
is also considerably shorter, measuring only 3 lines (French). The Japanese bird, judging from 
three specimens obtained near Hakodadi by Mr. H. Whitely, and lent to us by their present 
owners Lord Walden and Canon Tristram, would appear to belong to P. pekinensis. 
In Messrs. Horsfield and Moore’s Catalogue of the Indian Museum there is said to be a 
specimen there from ‘“ Formosa,” presented by Mr. Gould. It may be well to mention that this 
is not the Chinese Island of Formosa, rendered famous by Mr. Swinhoe’s researches, but refers to 
Formosa, near Cookham, on the banks of the Thames, the scene of the capture of many rare 
British birds, when Mrs. De Vitré resided there and Mr. Briggs was gardener. 
As will be seen from the above, the Coal Titmouse is generally distributed throughout 
Europe, but is far more abundant in the northern part of our continent, owing probably to its 
love of coniferous woods. According to the nature of the climate and the facilities for procuring 
the food it most affects, it is in some parts a migrant, arriving early in the spring, remaining to 
breed, and during the inclement winter-season seeking more genial climes, until the return of 
spring enables it to revisit its old haunts; in other parts it is a partial migrant, varying its home 
according to the facilities for procuring food, but not wandering very far; and, again, in other 
localities it is a resident, remaining near where it has nested throughout the whole winter. 
The same may also be said of its congeners, Parus major, P. palustris, and P. cewruleus, all 
of which are more or less wanderers during the winter season, travelling about in small flocks 
from tree to tree, or hedgerow to hedgerow, diligently searching for food. It seems, however, 
to be the hardiest of all the above named, as in the north its wanderings appear to commence 
