eS 
12 
incubation. From the next day the father and mother do not cease to bring, as their chief food, 
flies, gnats, ants’ eggs, and very small caterpillars. They feed them also, during the first ten days 
after their leaving the nest, and they stay with them until they can feed themselves. 
“The male, besides his ordinary cry, which is also peculiar to the female during all seasons, 
possesses from the end of the winter till the autumn moult a very characteristic song, and one 
which does not resemble any of the warblings of the other Titmice. It is rather of a hissing 
nature, and is uttered sometimes precipitately, sometimes gently. In the first case the bird 
expresses the syllables tw, tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, in two different tones; in the second he seems to 
pronounce the words thuiz, thuiz, thuiz, three or four times, at equal distances, and on the same 
note. He has besides, during the love-season, a very feeble warble, so feeble that one hears it 
only from the foot of the tree whence he is uttering it, but very significant and inimitable; he 
only gives vent to this in the very height of his passion.” 
Eggs of this bird in Dresser’s collection, procured in Sweden and Finland, do not differ from 
those of Parus palustris. Dr. Rey writes us that the average size of eight eggs in his possession, 
from Sweden, is 16 by 12:4 millims. The eggs were laid about the 12th of May. 
The descriptions of the male and female are from Swedish specimens in Lord Lilford’s 
collection, in full breeding-plumage. The lower figure in the Plate represents P. borealis, the 
upper figures P. palustris, the right-hand bird being the dark English race. 
In the preparation of the above article we have examined the following specimens :— 
E Mus. Sharpe and Dresser. 
a. Djurgarden, Stockholm, January 24th, 1864 (C. J. Sundevall). 6, e, d, e, 6. Stockholm, October 2nd, 
1870, August 8rd and October 9th, and January 25th, 1872. f, juv. Basses Alpes, 1869 (Facrmaire). 
g, &. Savoy, May 11th (Bailly). h, 3. Lake Baikal, March 18th, 1870 (Dr. Dybowski). 
E Mus. Salvin and Godman. 
a, 6, 3, 2. Sarpsborg, Norway, June and July 1866 (Baker). 
E Mus. E. R. Alston. 
a, 9. Vossevangen, Norway, May 24th, 1871 (J. A. Harvie Brown). 6, 2?. Vossevangen, May 24th, 1871 
(#. R. A.) 
E Mus. Fielden and Harvie Brown. 
a, b. Vossevangen, Norway, May 22nd and 28rd, 1871 (J. d. H. B). cc. Vossevangen, May 23rd, 1871 
(EZ. R. Alston). 
E Mus. Victor Fatio. 
a, b (P. palustris). Bernese Oberland, 2500-3200 feet, September 1863 (V. F.). c, d (P. alpestris). Bernese 
Oberland, 4000 feet, June 1863 and October 1862 (V. F.). e (P. borealis). Haute Engadine, June 1863 
(V. F.). ’ 
