THE WILLOW-TITMOUSE 



THE WILLOW-TITMOUSE. 



Parus kleinschmidti, Hellmyr. 



Plate 8oa. 



This Titmouse is regarded by the latest authorities as a sub-species of the 

 Northern Marsh-Titmouse P. borealis, and so closely resembles our Common 

 Marsh-Tit that it was not distinguished till 1897. When compared, the chief 

 difference between the two lies in the colour and texture of the feathers of the crown 

 of the head, which in the Marsh-Titmouse is of a glossy black, while in the 

 Willow-Tit this part is duller in tone ; the variation however, although noticeable 

 in a living specimen, is difficult to show in a colour reproduction. The tail feathers 

 in the Willow-Titmouse also appear to be more graduated than in that of its near 

 ally. 



The distribution in the British Islands of the Willow-Titmouse does not yet 

 appear to have been fully ascertained, but according to the B.O.U. List of British 

 Birds 1915, it is "resident and confined to the mainland of Great Britain, where it 

 is widely but locally distributed as far north as the Moray Firth." 



The " Marsh-Tits " found in Scotland all appear to belong to this form (Willow- 

 Tit), and as a good deal of interest has been raised among ornithologists by the 

 different races, I have given on the plate pictures of both the Willow and Marsh- 

 Titmice, for convenience of comparison. These were taken from specimens in the 

 Royal Scottish Museum. 



THE GREATER REDPOLL. 



Linota rostrata (Coues). 



Plate 8oa. > 



The Greater Redpoll is a native of Greenland, but also visits the northern parts 

 of America in winter. It is usually considered a rare visitor to the British Islands, 

 although found .by Dr. Eagle Clarke to be extremely abundant during his visit to 

 Fair Isle, Shetlands, in the autumn of 1905. He describes in his Studies in Bird 

 Migration how the birds " moved about in large parties, and frequented the 

 enclosures near the houses, being attracted by the seeds of numerous weeds which 



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