3 
willows and bird-cherries; they were then paired. Although in the west it is rare and seldom 
reaches 48° to 50° N. lat., it is essentially a north-eastern species in the Old World. In Eastern 
Siberia it appears to keep about the large rivers; at least I never met with it in the mountain- 
woods on Lake Baikal and in the Sajan and Apfel mountains. In the Amoor it extends to the 
country of the Ussuri, where M. Maximowicz obtained it about halfway up this river. We also 
found it had not reached its equatorial frontier here in 45° to 46° N. lat. Although found so far 
to the south on the mainland, it does not occur in Japan.” 
Dr. L. von Schrenck states that “it is found throughout the Amoor country in the extensive 
willow thickets fringing the river-banks, and on the numerous swampy islands, where it is not 
rare. In the Lower Amoor country it was procured by Maximowicz, Maack and myself, from 
June to November at Kidsi, Maji and Zollazi. On the eastern spur of the Bureja mountains I 
shot a young unmoulted bird on the 2nd of August, and an old male at Albasin on the Upper 
Amoor on the 24th of September. One of the most interesting ornithological results obtained 
during the expedition to Yarkand by Dr. Henderson was the establishment of the southern range 
of this rare bird. He has given us the following note:—‘ This beautiful little species was 
common in August in the tamarisk jungles on the banks of the Arpalak, within fifteen miles of 
the plains of Yarkand. It had, apparently, been recently breeding, as all the specimens obtained 
were young birds, one of them being scarcely fully fledged.” 
Until recently this lovely species was supposed to occur but very rarely west of the Ural; but 
we are fortunate in being able to give some excellent notes on the occurrence of several examples 
near Moscow, which have just been published in the ‘Journal fiir Ornithologie’ for 1871 
(pp. 124-130) by Mr. Th. Lorenz, and which we translate as follows:—“ In the autumn of 1869 
I purchased an Azure Titmouse, for which I paid four roubles, a price not high for so rare a bird. 
Two weeks later I was going out shooting (I live fifty versts westward of Moscow) in the middle 
of November, the snow being seven inches deep. I had left the house and was walking through 
my garden, which is bounded by tolerably high willow trees and is close to the river, when I 
suddenly heard an Azure Titmouse call; I pulled out my bird-whistle, answered, and saw, not 
_twenty paces from me, the lovely little bird. I hurriedly fired and brought it down ; but it was 
only winged, and, before I could catch it, it called, and immediately another came flying towards 
me. I hurried home to fetch my trap-cage and tame bird, and returned to the garden. I had 
scarcely set it and retired five paces, when the bird came flying towards it, attracted by the call of 
my decoy. The beauty of its plumage when on the wing can scarcely be described; the lovely 
white and brilliant blue looked beautiful when contrasted against the snowy back-ground. The 
bird’s movements were exceedingly agile, the white crest was continually raised and depressed, and 
altogether it appeared to be a more lively and active bird than any of its congeners. The bird 
was caught while I was close to it, and appeared to exercise none of the caution used by the other 
Titmice. I had baited with dried ants and one of those live cockroaches which are abundant in 
Russia. ‘The bird on seeing it immediately tried to seize it, and paid for the attempt with the loss 
of its freedom. When I had taken it home I offered it dried ants and shelled hemp-seed, which 
were immediately devoured. When about half-an-hour afterwards I offered it a live cockroach on 
a feather, it climbed on to the side of the cage, viewed it with hungry eyes, and, to my astonishment, 
seized and devoured it before my face. All shyness had disappeared, and the bird had soon for- 
AY 
