40 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
of the tribe,' they being exceeded in this respect by both 
the Blue Tit and the Great Tit."* 
"As Parus hritannicus, Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser 
have separated our own race from that of tl^^ Contment, 
because the upper back is olive-brown in the British bird, 
and slate-grey in the Continental forms.' f 
Whether there are immigrants from across the sea among 
the parties of Coal-Tits we see here in winter flittmg from tree 
to tree is a question still to be decided by local ornithologists. 
It must be noted that the local name of Blackcap 
for this species is apt to lead to confusion with Sylvia 
atricapilla. (See p. 21.) 
THE BRITISH MARSH-TITMOUSE. 
Parus falustris dresseri, Stejneger. 
A T«ry scarce and very local resident. 
Sir William Jardine writes in 1839 of the Marsh-Titmouse 
as follows :— " In the district where we have been tor 
many years attending to ornithology, it has decreased, and 
is at present a rare bird, an occurrence which we cannot 
satisfactorily account for, as its former localities have not 
been so much changed in character as to ^nve ^hm 
entirely away."$ Since that date it is believed that this 
species\as slowly become more abundant. A specim^ 
of the Marsh-Tit from Jardine Hall was m Sir Wilham 
Jardine's collection.! . , , ,rr ^,„„\ 
Mr Tom Brown saw a pair at Auchanhessnane (Tyiiron) 
in the winter of 1884-1885, consorting with Long-tailed 
and Coal-Tits. In a list of birds seen near Moffat in the 
winter of 1896-1897, Mr. Bruce Campbell mentions three 
* Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, November 16th, 1900. 
•f Man. Brit. Birds, 1899, p. 105. 
J Nat. Lib., 1839, Vol. XI., p. 174. 
§ Cat. Birds in Coll. Sir W. J., p. 78 (3126), a. 
