56 



MARSH TITMOUSE. 



(Parus palustris.) 



Pa. capite nigro^ dor so cinereOf temporibus alhis. 

 Titmouse with a black head, ash-coloured back, and white 

 temples. 



Parus palustris. Lin. Syst. Nat. 1. 341. 8. — Lin, Faun* Suec. 



2QQ.^GmeL Syst. Nat. 1. lOOg. — Lath, Ind, Orn, 2. 565.9. 

 La Nonette cendree. Briss, 3. 555. 7. 



La Mesange de marais. Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 5. 403. — Buff. 

 PI. Enl. Z.f.Z. 



Le Mesange a gorge noire. Buff. PI, Enl. 502. y, 1 . 



Marsh Titmouse. Pen. Brit. Zool. 1, l65, t. 57, f. 4.— Pen. 

 Arct. Zool, 2. 427, 2. — Albin. Birds. 3. t. 38./. 1. — Betvick, 

 Brit. Birds. 1. 242.-^Lath. Gen. Syn. 5. 541. 8. — Lath. Syn, 

 Sup. I89, — Mont, Brit, Birds, 1. — Leivin. Brit. Birds, 3, 

 119. 



Length not quite five inches : beak black : irides 

 dark hazel: the crown of the head and part of 

 the neck behind deep sooty black : cheeks dirty 

 white : throat black, in some individuals spotted 

 with white : breast, belly, and sides, dirty white : 

 back ash-coloured : quills and tail dusky, lightest 

 on their outer margins : legs dark lead-colour. 

 Buffon describes a variety which differs in having 

 the black spot on the throat much larger, and the 

 colours much more brilliant : the female without 

 the black on the head, which is nearly of the same 

 colour as the upper parts of the body. 



The Marsh Titmouse is fond of low wet ground, 

 where old willow trees abound, in the hollows 

 of which it often makes its nest. Mr. Montagu 



