YELLOW-CHEEKED 
TITMOUSE. 
Varus xanthogenys . 
The two little birds which are represented 
in the accompanying illustration are among 
the most striking examples of this pretty 
group, the one for its bold and conspicuous 
crest, and the other for the curious colouring 
of the head and neck. 
The Yellow-cheeked Titmouse inhabits 
several parts of Asia, and is mostly found 
among the north-western Himalayas, where 
it is rather abundant. In its habits it re- 
sembles the ordinary Titmouse of Europe. 
The nest of this species is constiucted of 
moss, hair, and fibres, and is lined softly 
with feathers. The position in which it is 
placed is usually a cavity at the bottom of 
some hollow stump, generally a decaying oak, 
and it contains four or five eggs of a delicate- 
white blotched with brownish spots. The 
colouring of this bird is rather peculiar and 
decidedly bold. The top of the head, the 
crest, a streak below the eye, and a broad 
band reaching from the chin to the extremity 
of the abdomen, are deep jetty black. The 
cheeks are light yellow, as is the whole of the 
under surface of the body, with the exception 
of the flanks, which take a greener hue. 
The wings are grey, mottled with black and 
white, and the tail is black with a slight 
edging of olive-green. 
The Rueous-bellied Titmouse inhabits 
Southern India and Nepal, and cannot be 
considered as a rare bird. In this pretty 
creature the head, the crest, and the throat 
are jet black, contrasting boldly with the 
pure white of the ear- coverts and the back of 
the neck. The back, wings, and tail are 
ashen grey, washed with a perceptible tinge of blue, and the abdomen is reddish 
grey, as are the edges of the quill-feathers of the wing. 
RUEOUS-BELLIED 
TITMOUSE. 
Varus rubidiventris . 
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