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“ AutuMN Dress or THE Mates or THE TuREE Tirmice (continued). 
Parus palustris. 
Prats AND Mountarys. 
Tail-feathers almost the same as in spring. 
Cheeks white under the eye, but washed 
lower down with a grey slightly inclining 
to rufous. 
Throat with the black spot often smaller 
than in spring. 
Breast and middle of the belly of a whitish 
colour, slightly inclining to rufous; the 
under tail-coverts and flanks washed with 
rufous. 
Surface of the tail-feathers and quills as in 
spring. 
Nasal feathers black. 
Beak blackish. 
Feet almost the same as in spring. 
Tris dark brown. 
Parus alpestris. 
OBERLAND. 
Tail-feathers slightly darker and more 
broadly bordered than in spring. 
Cheeks white and long, washed on their 
lower side with a pretty tinge of rosy 
nankeen, which extends on to the shoul- 
ders. 
Throat with the black spot darker and a 
little less extended than in spring; some 
feathers bordered with white. 
Breast white; middle of the belly of a very 
faint rose-colour ; flanks and under tail- 
coverts of a pretty vinous tint, more pro- 
nounced than in spring. 
Surface of the tail-feathers and quills as in 
spring. 
Nasal plumes blackish. 
Beak blackish. 
Tarsus and toes very slightly darker than 
in spring. 
Tris dark brown. 
Parus borealis. 
Haute ENGADINE. 
Tail-feathers a little more broadly fringed 
than in spring. 
Cheeks and sides of the neck white, and 
slightly washed with nankeen on their 
edges and nearly to the shoulders. 
Throat with the black spot a little less 
extended than in spring, more deeply 
coloured and streaked here and there 
with white. 
Breast and first half of the middle of the 
belly white ; under tail-coverts and flanks 
washed with a slight vinous tinge. 
Surface of the tail-feathers and quills as in 
spring. 
Nasal plumes blackish. 
Beak blackish. 
Tarsus and toes very slightly more pro- 
nounced than in spring. 
Tris dark brown. 
“Let us now quit the plain, and, rising on the mountain-side, compare the Marsh-Titmice (P. palustris) 
that we can meet with as high as 1100 or 1200 metres: all present exactly the same proportions and colours ; 
a little more extension of the black spot on the throat alone distinguishes the individuals of the upper from 
those of the lower parts. But leaving first the gardens, then the various woods, let us enter the forests of 
conifers ; we have scarcely mounted a few feet when already a great change has taken place. We have seen 
the little dissimilarity that a difference of 800 or 900 metres of snow can effect between the Marsh-Titmose of 
the plain and that of the mountain; and now a few paces only have sufficed to completely change the facies of 
birds, who live notwithstanding, at this point, side by side. Our Titmice present all at once proportions 
passably larger; their tail is of a sudden longer, their beak and feet have acquired more force and extension, 
their feathers, especially those. of the back, have taken larger dimensions. Instead of a little brilliant blue- 
black hood, we have at one step a hood of blackish brown extending right on to the back; instead of the 
simple spot on the throat, we have the latter entirely black; we have more elongated cheeks, and the tail- 
feathers and quills perceptibly bordered with brighter colour; we have no longer the same colour on the feet : 
in a word, we observe a slight change everywhere. 
“Thence let us go a little higher, not omitting to remark that all the proportions are regularly larger 
and the colour brighter; this is only a gradual increase in the importance of those characters which 
have already served to distinguish the supposed P. alpestris from P. palustris; we shall at last, as we con- 
tinue our ascent, meet with Titmice which it would be impossible not to identify at the first glance with 
Parus borealis of the north. The Parus borealis of De Selys does not present any difference in its pro- 
portions from the least of the Engadine specimens; the characters drawn from its coloration are only those 
which the influence of a more northern climate has succeeded in still further exaggerating; its general 
coloration as well as the borders of its tail-feathers and quills are more pronounced and clearer. The 
Parus atricapillus (Lath.), which only seems to be P. dorealis of North America, once more repeats exactly 
the same characters as our P. alpestris, only exhibiting them, so to speak, in their extreme intensity. If it 
is the analogy of the climates which causes the relations which exist between the P. borealis of the north and 
those of the Alps, it cannot any longer be supposed that P. palustris is but a form of P. borealis, which, 
submitted to other conditions, had also other characters ; for why, then, do we not have gentle transitions from 
from one to the other according to a continual increase in the altitude and latitude. 
“ Let us further compare the noteworthy and parallel differences which distinguish the appearance of the 
