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AGANTHIPARUS NIVEOGULARIS, Gould. 



White-throated Tit. 



Parus niveogularis, Gould MS., Moore in Proc. of Zool. Soc, June 27, 1854. 



I have searched in vain throughout the various ornithological works for the name and description of this 

 species of Tit, two specimens of which are in my own collection, and which are said to have heen procured in 

 Northern India, but in what particular province I have not been able to ascertain ; and I publish it thus early 

 in the "Birds of Asia" with the twofold view of eliciting information respecting- its history, and of making- 

 it known to science. It is remarkably different from every other member of the Paridce I have seen, not 

 only in its colouring, but also in its structure : in the tints of its plumage and in its long tail, it offers an 

 alliance to the members of the genus Mecistura, but it differs from them remarkably in the much greater 

 length of its wings, and in its longer and more spine-like bill ; these differences in structure are doubtless 

 accompanied by a corresponding variation in its habits and manners, with which, however, we are unfortu- 

 nately not acquainted. 



Although opposed to any unnecessary increase in the number of genera, I find I cannot with propriety 

 associate this bird with any of the minor groups into which the Tits have been subdivided. I am therefore 

 constrained to make it the type of a new genus, with the appellation of Acanthiparus, a term which has been 

 suggested by the lengthened and pointed form of the bill. 



Forehead, centre of the crown, chin, sides of the neck and chest white ; lores and sides of the head black ; 

 hinder part of the crown and the nape brown ; ear-coverts, which are very long, pale brown edged with a still 

 lighter hue ; upper surface brownish-grey ; wings brown ; primaries margined with silvery-grey ; tail greyish- 

 brown, the three outer feathers narrowly margined with white, the white being gradually less extensive on 

 the second and third than on the first ; under surface vinous-brown, separated from the white of the breast 

 by a narrow crescentic band of a darker hue ; bill black ; feet reddish flesh-colour. 



The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Cornus capitata, Wall. 



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