THE MARSH-TIT. 
141 
are also more rufescent or buff. On these characters only 
can the British race be recognised, and we find some French 
examples exhibiting a similar tendency to dark coloration. 
Range in Great Britain — Generally distributed, and even com- 
mon in some counties of England. In Scotland it becomes 
very local in its distribution, but, according to Mr. William 
Evans, it breeds as far as Dunipace, near Stirling, where Mr. 
Harvie Brown has pointed out to us the portion of his estate fre- 
quented by the species. In Ireland the only counties where 
it is met with are Antrim, Kildare, and Dublin. 
Range outside tlie British Islands. Pants palustt is is generally 
distributed in South and South-western Europe, but is decidedly 
rare in the Mediterranean countries, though it occurs as far 
eastward as Greece and Asia Minor. In Scandinavia north- 
ward of about 61 0 N. lat., as far as the Arctic Circle, and in 
North-west Russia, according to Mr. Seebohm, is found the 
Alpine form, Pants borealis , which is also noticed in equally 
high latitudes in Switzerland. Mr. lrevor Battye says that in 
Sweden, where both species occur, the two birds have perfectly 
different notes and habits. From North-eastern Russia and 
across Siberia to China and Japan, there are other races which 
have been recognised by modern ornithologists, and certainly 
some of these are not more worthy of recognition than the 
English race, which has been called P. dresseri. 
Habits. -The name of “ Marsh ”-Tit is by no means an ap- 
posite designation of this bird, for it is not a marsh-haunting 
species any more than the other British Tits, and we have 
found it often far away from any water, in the midst of the 
woodlands, consorting with other species of 1 its, Creepers, and 
Nuthatches. Although we cannot say that we have ever seen it 
in the suburbs of London, like the Coal- lit, it frequents every 
kind of locality in the country, and is seen in gardens, in the 
undergrowth of woods, or in bushes which fringe the country 
lanes. It seems to be somewhat of a migratory bird, as it ap- 
pears on the east coast in autumn, and it is one of the Tits 
which passes over Heligoland. 
The food of the Marsh-Tit consists principally of insects, but 
it is, like the other members of the family, really omnivorous, 
and in parts of the country where the bird is common it can be 
