BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 427 



loosely disposed, but with considerable claims to nesting in- 

 genuity. There are four or five pearly-white eggs, with occa- 

 sional touches of dingy-greenish at the larger end." 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill pointed, subulate, compressed, stout, a,bout as long as 

 head; culmen and commissure nearly straight; nostrils cov- 

 ered by a tuft of bristles directed forwards; tarsi stout, tail 

 very short, broad and nearly even; wings reaching nearly to 

 the end of the tail. Above ashy blue; top of head black; a 

 white line above, and a black one through the eye; chin, white 

 rest of under parts brownish rusty. 



Length, 4.50; wing, 2;65; tail, 0.85. 



Habitat, North America at large. 



PARUS BICOLOR (L.). (731.) 



TUFTED TITMOUSE. 



This is rather a rare species in Minnesota. Only occasion- 

 ally obtained, and then only in the extreme southern counties, 

 but at such times as they are presumably breeding. I place 

 them in my records on the assurances of Mr. Lewis who ob- 

 tained the skin and four eggs from a lad in Nobles county. 



I knew the bird very well in his established haunts, and 

 have seen persons who have collected them occasionally in the 

 vicinity of Cedar Falls, Iowa. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Above ashy black. A frontal band of dark sooty brown. 

 Bill, black; feet lead color. Beneath dull whitish; sides brown- 

 ish chestnut, of more or less intensity. 



Length, 6.25; wing, 3.20 



Habitat, eastern United States to the Plains. 



PARUS ATRICAPILLUS (L.). (735.) 



CHICKADEE. 



The Chickadee is a common, permanent resident of Minne- 

 sota, scarcely any portion of which yet visited, where there is 

 timber found, which does not have a fair representation of 

 them. But they are met with more frequently in the autumn 

 and early spring when they come out from the denser wood- 

 lands and seek the cultivated sections, where the sun has made 

 its food more attainable. At all times during winter, however 



