and across Siberia to Amoorland and Japan. The marsh tit (_Parus
palustris_) inhabits temperate and south Europe from 61deg N. latitude in
Norway to Poland and South-west Russia, and in the south from Spain to Asia
Minor. Closely allied to this--of which it is probably only a variety or
sub-species--is the northern marsh tit (_Parus borealis_), which overlaps
the last in Norway and Sweden, and also in South Russia and the Alps, but
extends further north into Lapland and North Russia, and thence probably in
a south-easterly direction across Central Asia to North China. Yet another
closely-allied species (_Parus camtschatkensis_) ranges from North-eastern
Russia across Northern Siberia to Lake Baikal and to Hakodadi in Japan,
thus overlapping _Parus borealis_ in the {20} western portion of its area.
Our little favourite, the blue tit (_Parus coeruleus_) ranges over all
Europe from the Arctic circle to the Mediterranean, and on to Asia Minor
and Persia, but does not seem to pass beyond the Ural mountains. Its lovely
eastern ally the azure tit (_Parus cyaneus_) overlaps the range of _P.
coeruleus_ in Western Europe as far as St. Petersburg and Austria, rarely
straggling to Denmark, while it stretches all across Central Asia between
the latitudes 35deg and 56deg N. as far as the Amoor valley. Besides these
wide-ranging species there are several others which are more restricted.
_Parus teneriffae_, a beautiful dark blue form of our blue tit, inhabits
North-west Africa and the Canaries; _Parus ledouci_, closely allied to our
coal tit, is found only in Algeria; _Parus lugubris_, allied to the marsh
tit, is confined to South-east Europe and Asia Minor, from Hungary and
South Russia to Palestine; and _Parus cinctus_, another allied form, is
confined to the extreme north in Lapland, Finland, and perhaps Northern
Russia and Siberia. Another beautiful little bird, the crested titmouse
(_Parus cristatus_) is sometimes placed in a separate genus. It inhabits
nearly all Central and South Europe, wherever there are pine forests, from
64deg N. latitude to Austria and North Italy, and in the west to Spain and
Gibraltar, while in the east it does not pass the Urals and the Caucasus
range. Its nearest allies are in the high Himalayas.

These are all the European tits, but there are many others inhabiting Asia,
Africa, and North America; so that the genus Parus has a very wide range,
in Asia to Ceylon and the Malay Islands, in Africa to the Cap