BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
England, and should be looked out for. It differs from 
the Marsh-Tit chiefly by its crown being of dull brownish- 
black or sooty-black rather than glossy-black and by its 
more graduated tail.* 
THE BRITISH BLUE TITMOUSE. 
Parus cceruleus ohscurus, Prazak. 
Local name— Blue Bonnet. 
A common resident. 
This species and the Great Tit are the most abundant of 
their family in the county. Sir William Jardine writmg 
from Jardine Hall (Applegarth), records an mdividual 
which " for nearly ten years . . . during summer and 
winter, has slept under the carved oak of one of the capitals 
heading the pillars which support our own front door, 
and during the period mentioned we have only known 
the place untenanted once or twice."t 
The British form of the Blue Tit, which is the only one 
known to have occurred in our county, differs from its 
continental representatives mainly by its darker, duller 
coloration. 
[Mr J A Harvie-Brown writing of the Crested Titmouse 
(Parus cristaius scoticus (Prazak)) says : " There is, I think, 
an account of its occurrence, or of a casual appearance, 
somewhere near Dumfries, but I cannot lay hand upon the 
reference at present. I may,however, safely leave that m the 
hands of Mr. Robert Service, when he comes to complete 
his volume upon the fauna of Solway. It may be possible 
that, just as at one time isolated small colonies of Cross- 
bills were known to frequent certain portions of pine-growth 
* British Birds (Mag.), Vol. I. p. 45. 
t Nat. Lib., 1839, Vol. XI., p. 167. 
