PARING. 83 



Pants ater temodius has a decided crest, and is also darkest on the 

 breast, which is sandy buff, but its back is not quite so brown as 

 that of British examples. It inhabits the southern slopes of the 

 Himalayas. It appears to lessen its crest and to become paler on 

 the breast in China ; and in Japan the crest is almost obsolete, the 

 breast has become sandy white, and the grey on the back very blue. 

 The same change takes place as it ranges westwards. Examples 

 from the Thian-Shan mountains (the Parus picem of Severtzow) have 

 small crests, the breast is very slightly buffer than in Japanese birds, 

 and the grey on the back is almost as blue. In Russian Turkestan 

 {Parus rufipectiis of Severtzow) the crest is all but obsolete, the 

 breast is a shade paler, but the colour of the back remains the 

 same. 



Parus ater britanniem, from the British Islands, represents the 

 extreme of brownness on the back, the entire absence of a crest, and 

 the extreme of whiteness on the breast. The two latter characters 

 are, however, common to examples from Europe and Western 

 Siberia. 



Parus ater in its typical form ranges across continental Europe and 

 Siberia, but in the eastern half of its range a tendency to develop a 

 crest is more or less observable, and the breast is slightly sandy in 

 colour. If Chinese examples be distinguished as Parus ater pekin- 

 ensis, those from Japan must be described as intermediate between 

 the Chinese and European forms. 



52. PARUS ATRICEPS. 

 (INDIAN GREAT TIT.) 

 Parus atriceps, Horsfleld, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 160 (1820). 



The Manchurian race of the Indian Great Tit, like its British 

 representative, has a black band down the underparts, and a green 

 mantle, but its flanks are nearly white. 



Figures : Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Aves, pi. 33, 

 under the name of Parus minor ; Gould, Birds of Asia, ii. pi. 56. 



The Manchurian race of the Indian Great Tit is a resident in 

 Japan, whence it was originally described by Temminck and Schlegel 

 from examples obtained by Dr. Siebold. It was first procured in 

 Yezzo by Dr. Henderson, who found it abundant near Hakodadi in 

 October (Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1858, p. 192) ; and 

 there is an example in the Swinhoe collection obtained by Captain 



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