BIRDS. 



251 



Builg were migratory, or possibly only * vagratory.' The amount 

 of migration as compared with ' vagration,' — or vagrancy for feed- 

 ing purposes — amongst the Tit family, we think, has still to be 

 studied. 



[Obs. — Parus ater, L. Continental Cole Tit. — There can scarcely 

 remain any doubt that the Cole Tit which is found in the Spey 

 valley and neighbouring glens may be considered as intermediate 

 in form between the true Parus ater and P. britannicus. We are 

 assured by Professor Newton that specimens obtained by WoUey 

 at Carr Bridge and in the valley of the Dulnan in 1851, were 

 undoubtedly the true P. ater^ and not the dusky, smoky-backed 

 Cole Tit of Southern Britain (Newton, in lit. April 1, 1893) ; and 

 we have been at some pains to obtain specimens for comparison, in 

 which we have been obligingly assisted by several of our corre- 

 spondents during the season of 1893. Our friend Mr. William 

 Evans has a specimen from Tweed, which, he assures us, differs in 

 no way from Spey specimens, and another which is only very 

 slightly more dingy. 



We are inclined to consider that the Cole Tits of the North of 

 Scotland are quite as nearly related to those of Scandinavia as 

 they are to what has been differentiated as P. biitannicus, if not, 

 indeed, more closely affiliated as regards colour to the former.] 



Parus palustris, L. Marsh Tit. 



Said by St. John to be plentiful in the fir woods of Morayshire during 

 winter (vide Natural History and- Sport in Moray ^ p. 17). As St. John 

 was so good and close an observer, we give his record as one of 

 special interest, all the more that he says under his next species : 

 ' The Cole Titmouse is more uncommon than the Marsh Titmouse,* 

 and then also describes the latter's nesting sites and eggs, thus 

 giving us to understand that it was not merely a winter visitor but 

 a resident breeding species. But we find it difficult to reconcile 

 the statements as to the comparative abundance of the two species, 

 at least with our own present-day experiences. Of late years we 

 have only one instance of its occurrence recorded in that district, 

 and this was during the winter of 1879, by Mr. Norman, an accu- 

 rate and excellent observer, who resided there. We have a note 

 from Mr. A. Craig in his 'List of the Birds of Glen Urquhart,' 

 read before the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, March 15th, 



