ACKEDULA MACEDONICA. 



(MACEDONIAN LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE.) 



Acredula macedonica, Salvad. & Dresser, Bull. B. O. Club, vol. i. p. xv (1892). 



Figura adhuc nulla. 



<J ad. fronte et parte media pilei usque ad occiput albidis : lateribus pilei a rostri basi usque ad cervicem 

 latissime nigris : dorso et corpore supra sicut in A. rosed : genis albidis fusco variis : gula albida, in 

 medio plaga fusca ornata, et a pectore fascia pectorali transversa nigricante divisa : gastrseo reliquo 

 albido, lateribus, abdomine imo et subcaudalibus roseo indutis : alis et Cauda sicut in A. rosed 

 coloratis. 



Adult Male (Olympus, November 3rd). Upper parts as in Acredula rosea, but the black bands on the 

 sides of the crown are conspicuously broader and extend to the base of the bill ; underparts white ; 

 sides of the throat faintly striated with grey, and a narrow blackish-grey band passes across the breast, 

 the throat being also faintly marked with dark grey ; flanks washed with rose : bill and legs black ; 

 iris dark brown. Total length about 5'5 inches, culmen 03, wing 2 - 4, tail 3'5, tarsus 0"6. 



This species is as yet only little known, there being, so far as I can ascertain, but one 

 specimen, the type, existing in any collection, unless there are examples in the Museum 

 at Athens. I received it many years ago from Dr. Th. Kriiper, who obtained it on Mount 

 Olympus, and I then regarded it as probably an individual variety; and as it was the only 

 Long-tailed Titmouse I had seen from Greece, I tried, though ineffectually, to obtain more 

 specimens. Some years ago I showed it to Count Salvadori, and he at once pronounced it to 

 be a good species, and urged me to describe it, which, however, I was loth to do, only having 

 examined the one specimen. When he again visited England in 1892 he urged me so strongly 

 to lose no time in publishing a description of the bird, that I handed it over to him and proposed 

 that he should describe it, which, however, he would not do, so we agreed to describe it conjointly, 

 which we eventually did. 



So far as 1 can ascertain, this species is confined to Greece. Both Lindermayer and 

 von der Miihle speak of a Long-tailed Titmouse as found in the winter in Greece, and breeding 

 in Roumelia and Akarnania, which is probably the present species ; and Dr. Kriiper (Griech. 

 Jahresz. p. 208) states that the Long-tailed Titmouse is a resident in Greece, and breeds early 

 in April or late in March. Messrs. Elwes and Buckley, who wrote (Ibis, 1870, p. 199) that they 

 obtained examples both in Macedonia and Bulgaria which agreed exactly with British specimens, 

 must undoubtedly have procured the present species and not A, rosea. These specimens have 

 unfortunately been lost or mislaid, and I have therefore been unable to confirm this by 

 comparison. 



The specimen figured and described is the type, and is in my own collection. 



