486 BRITISH BIRDS. 



ACREDULA CAUDATA and ACREDULA ROSEA. 



CONTINENTAL LONG-TAILED TIT and BRITISH 

 LONG-TAILED TIT. 



(Plate 9.) 



These two forms are united together by a series of intermediate examples^ 

 which are found in those districts where their respective ranges meet, 

 leading to the supposition that they are only subspecifically distinct and 

 interbreed wherever they have the opportunity. The synonymy of the two 

 forms is as follows : — 



ACREDULA CAUDATA. 

 Continental Long-talled Tit. 



Parus longicaudus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 670 (1760). 



Parus caudatus, Lum. Syst. Nat. i. p. 342 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum — 



Gmelin, Bonaparte, Crespon, Malherhe, {Bechstein), {Naumann), {Newton), &c. 

 Acredula caudata (Linn.'), Koch, Si/st. haier. Zool. p. 200 (1816). 

 ^4^gitlialu3 caudatus {Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 556. 

 Orites caudatus {Linn.), Sundev. Sv. Foyl. p. 92 (1856). 



ACREDULA ROSEA. 

 Bhitish Long-tailed Tit. 



Acredula vagans, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sfc. Brit. Mus. p. 17 (1816). 



Mecistura rosea, Blyth, White's Nat. Hist. Selborne, p. Ill, footnote (1836); et 



auctorum plurimorum— ((?;-fly), Sharpe, Dresser, Giglioli, Elwes, Buckley, 



Danford, Harvie-Broivn, &c. 

 Mecistura longicaudata, Macyill. Hist. Brit. B. ii. p. 454 (1839). 

 Acredula rosea {Blyth), Sharpe, Ibis, 1868, p. 300. 

 Parus roseus {Blyth), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 234 (1869). 

 Acredula caudata {Linn.), apud Netvton ^-c. 



The British Long-tailed Tit is by no means confined to the British 

 Islands. In England and Wales it is generally distributed and probably 

 breeds in every county, although it becomes somewhat local in certain 

 districts. In the Channel Islands, Mr. Cecil Smith remarks that he 

 has never met with it; but Professor Ansted, in his list, states that it 

 occurs in Guernsey and Sark. In Scotland, although generally distributed 

 it is rarer, doubtless because the districts suited to its habits are fewer • but 

 it is more numerous in winter. It is also found on some of the Inner 



