100 
2 
the outer bases of the feathers also slightly tinged with olive-brown ; tail greyish brown, washed with 
grey, purer and inclining to whitish on the tip of the penultimate feather and along the margin of the 
outermost; throat black, the feathers on the lower part of the throat obscured by white margins; 
breast white, the sides of the breast and flanks tinged with faint buff; nasal feathers blackish ; bill black ; 
iris brown; legs lead-coloured. Total length 4°6 inches, culmen 0°35, wing 2°55, tail 2°25, tarsus 0°55. 
Male in autumn plumage. More olive-brown than in spring on the upper surface, consequently the lighter 
colour of the rump is not so apparent; the feathers also longer and more woolly; the outer web of 
both primaries and secondaries much more olive, all the grey tint of the feathers and the whitish 
edgings being obscured; tail-feathers scarcely differmg from the spring plumage, but not so grey; 
throat-spot about the same size as in spring; breast-feathers more woolly, and the buff of the flanks 
extending more on to the belly than in spring. 
Male from England. Very much darker than continental specimens, the back especially; the ramp much 
paler than the rest of the back, and inclining to rosy white; cheeks and centre of the body underneath 
dingy white; the flanks dark buff, this colour also extending on to the abdomen. 
Young. All the markings of the adult characteristically indicated, but the general appearance of the body- 
feathers more woolly; head deep sooty black; back dark olive-brown ; rump very much paler, of a 
rosy buff-colour, and contrasting strongly with the brown of the back; wing-coverts coloured like the 
back ; quills dark greyish brown, the primaries very narrowly margined with white on the outer web, 
the secondaries more plainly edged with clear brown, almost rufous, rather inclining to olive-brown 
near the base of the inner primaries; tail greyish brown, narrowly margined with olive-brown, the 
outer tail-feathers very conspicuously edged with whitish ; cheeks and ear-coverts white, extending only 
a little way down the sides of the neck; throat dull black with a few whitish markings on the edges of 
the feathers ; under surface of the body rosy white, deepest on the flanks; bill black ; feet paler than 
in the adult. Total length 4-1 inches, culmen 0:35, wing 2°25, tail 1°85, tarsus 0°55. 
A TRUE history of the Marsh-Titmouse is very difficult to write, in consequence of the refusal of 
many good naturalists to recognize the difference between this species and its nearly allied, but 
certainly distinct, congener, Parus borealis. We hope in our account of the latter Titmouse to 
thoroughly point out the distinctions between the two species; and after that no doubt a complete 
history of the two birds, giving their respective geographical ranges, will be rendered possible. 
The accuracy of the present account, therefore, may in some instances be impugned by the 
testimony of future observers; but we have been working with such éxcellent series of both 
species before us, and from so many localities, that we believe the statements made in this 
article may be sufficiently relied on. 
Its breeding-habitat in England is thus given by Mr. A. G. More:—* Throughout England 
and Wales; becoming scarce in Scotland, where it is mostly found in the Lothians. Nests 
regularly in Haddington (Mr. A. Hepburn), regularly in Linlithgow (Mr. T. D. Weir), and 
occasionally in several other counties of subprovince 28. The Marsh-Titmouse extends to 
Fifeshire, according to Macgillivray, and breeds in Perthshire (Zr. A. Pullar and Mr. J. Lamb), 
occasionally in Aberdeenshire (Mr. T. Edward), and even as far north as Inverness (Mr. W. 
Dunbar). This bird can hardly be supposed wanting in subprovinces 16 and 19, though it is 
not included in either list of the nesting-birds of Lincolnshire, where Mr. Adrian informs me 
that it has only been noticed as a rare visitor.” Soon after the above statement was published, 
