Elegant Tit. 



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PARUS ELEGANS, Lesson. 



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Parus elegans, Lesson, Traite d'Orn. p. 456 (1831).— Pucheran, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 68.— Bonaparte, 

 Comptes Rendus, xxxviii. p. 63 (1854).— Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 34, note— Gray, Hand-list of Birds, i. 

 p. 231 (1869).— Sharpe, Transactions of the Linnean Society, 2nd series, Zool. vol. i. (1877). 



Parus quadrivittatus, La Fresnaye, Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 129. 



Machlolophus elegans, Walden, Transactions of the Zoological Society, vol. ix. p. 199 (1875). 





In the Plate which accompanies the present article ornithologists are presented with a portrait of a Tit 

 which differs somewhat in style of markings from any of the other familiar genera of the Paridce. There are 

 several groups of Tits, nearly all of which have been figured in one- or other of my ornithological works ; 

 and, strange to say, nearly all these groups are represented in the species found in the British Islands. 

 Thus :• — our Marsh-Tit (P. palustris) is one of several sober-coloured species which are found in the northern 

 parts of both the Old and the New World; our common Blue Tit (P. cceruleus) has its representatives 

 in the Mediterranean suhregion and in Northern Asia ; and the same may be said of the Coal Tit (P. ater) ; 

 the little Bottle-Tit {P. caudatus) has several allies in the northern portions of the Old World ; and, 

 lastly, the crested species {Loplwphanes cristatus) has a great many representatives in the Himalayas. It 

 is in the last-named range of mountains that we must look for a bird which will in any way compare with 

 the beautiful species represented in the Plate ; and it is probably on account of the characteristic white 

 spotting on the wings that Mr. Blyth was inclined to place it in the genus Machloloplius along with some 

 of the Himalayan species. The entire absence, however, of the enormous crest which distinguishes the 

 Philippine bird must be our warrant for not placing it in the genus Machlolophus ; and in my opinion it 

 ought to stand alone, perhaps to be included in a separate genus, which would also contain the lately 

 described species from Balabac, Parus amabilis, Sharpe. 



We know nothing of the habits of this pretty species ; and until recently we had no knowledge of its 

 exact home, beyond the fact that it was a native of the Philippine archipelago. My own specimen is from 

 Manila; and Dr. Steere procured it in Guimaras and in Palawan. 



The following description is taken from my own specimen above mentioned : — 



Head and hind neck glossy blue-black, with a patch of sulphur-yellow feathers dividing the hind neck ; 

 mantle blue-black, the feathers having all terminal white spots washed with pale greenish ; scapulars light 

 yellowish green, with black bases to the feathers ; lower back and rump light greenish, the feathers grey 

 at the base ; upper tail-coverts glossy blue-black ; tail blue-black, tipped with white, the three outer 

 feathers with a white mark about the middle of the outer web ; wings blue-black, all the wing-coverts with 

 a large ovate spot of white occupying nearly the terminal half; primaries narrowly edged with white, and 

 the innermost tipped with white, which increases in extent towards the secondaries, where the white terminal 

 spots are as large as on the wing-coverts ; lores, region of the eye, cheeks, and entire throat blue-black, 

 the ear-coverts lemon-yellow, continuing in a band down the sides of the neck ; rest of under surface of 

 body yellow, the flanks somewhat washed with greenish ; under wing-coverts white washed with yellow. 



Total length 41 inches, wing 31, tail If, tarsus 1. 



The figures in the Plate are drawn from the foregoing bird, and are life-sized. 



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