April, 1843.1 259 



Picus* Nuttalii. 



Male, varied with black and white ; back transversely banded with 

 black and white; upper part of the head black with linear white spots ; 

 hind head with a broad red stripe ; sides of the head and neck black, 

 with a wide stripe running from the base of the bill about the length 

 of the head, also white stripes running from the eyes and uniting on 

 the back of the neck, which is black. Rump and two middle tail- 

 feathers black. Wing-feathers on their outer and inner webs, with 

 six or seven bands of white spots ; all the wing coverts also with white 

 spots ; tips of some of the tertiaries light brown. Beneath white, with 

 a slight tinge of yellow ; sides and vent with dark brown spots ; lower 

 tail coverts and tail-feathers, except the two middle ones, white, 

 with irregular bands or spots of dark brown ; throat and breast 

 white ; second quill shorter than the seventh ; third, fourth, and fifth 

 nearly equal. Two white tufts of hair-like feathers at the base of the 

 upper mandible. Irides red. Length seven inches. 



This pretty species I shot in a willow thicket near the Pueblo de 

 los Angelos, Upper California, December 10th. It was actively en- 

 gaged pecking into one of the trees ; from time to time uttering a 

 singular note, unlike any I have heard from a woodpecker. It is, 

 perhaps, a common species in the summer time. 



Parus* montanus. 



Male. Head, upper part of the back, throat, and upper part of the 

 breast pure black; two white stripes commence on the front and extend 

 over the head about the length of it, leaving a black band in the centre 

 and a stripe running over each eye to the nape ; cheeks and shoulders 

 white. Wings and tail brownish 'gray; beneath whitish ; tinged with 

 brown on the sides and vent. Legs bluish. Length a little over five 

 inches. Tail two and a half inches. 



This new and distinct species we first observed about a-day's jour- 

 ney from Santa Fe, in New Mexico, and from thence in all the 

 ranges of the Rocky Mountains nearly to California. Its manners and 

 notes are very much like those of the common Chickadee, but the lat- 

 ter are more weak and varied. It keeps also much in low bushes, 

 where from morning to night, with untiring patience and activity, it 

 may be seen hopping from bush to bush, searching them minutely 

 for small insects. It also frequently descends to the ground to pick 

 up small seeds ; when thus occupied it occasionally stops, looks around 

 and utters a slender te de de de, then altering to de de dait, flies off 

 to some other bush. On the Rio Colorado it keeps much in the cot- 

 ton wood trees which grow along its banks, and its notes, which be- 

 came familiar, were almost the only ones heard in the winter, when 



