CHICADEE, OR BLACK-CAPT TITMOUSE, 



241 



This species is 6J inches long, and 9 in the stretch of the wings. 

 Above, dark bluish-ash ; the front black tinged with reddish. Beneath 

 sulHed white, except the sides under the wings, which are pale red- 

 dish-brown. Legs and feet greyish blue. Bill black. Iris hazel. 

 The crest high and pointed, like that of the common Blue Jay. Tail 

 shghtly forked. Tips of the wings dusky. Tongue blunt ending in 

 4 sharp points. Female very similar to the male. 



CHICADEE, OR BLACK-CAPT TITMOUSE. 



{Parus pplustris, h., P. atricapillus, Ib. Wilson, i. p. 134. pi. 8. fig. 4. 

 Philad. Museum, No. 7380.) 



Sp. Charact. — Not crested; grey, tinged with brown; the head 

 above and ridge of the neck black ; the black on the throat not 

 extended ; cheeks and beneath white, faintly tinged with greyish 

 brown ; tail 2 inches long. — In the fejnale the black is less deep, 

 and less apparent on the throat. 



This familiar, hardy, and restless little bird inhabits 

 both Europe and North America. In the latter conti- 

 nent it is even resident in winter around Hudson's 

 Bay, and h.as been met with at 62'^ on the Northwest 

 Coast. It is, indeed, difficult to say in what part 

 of the United States it is most common, so generally 

 and equally has it colonized the temperate parts. In 

 2i 



